A federal judge has dismissed a suit accusing Ernesto Zedillo ’81PhD—former Mexican president and current director of Yale’s Center for the Study of Globalization—of war crimes.
Ten unnamed people sued Zedillo in 2011, saying Zedillo covered up a 1997 massacre in the Mexican state of Chiapas, which they survived. Zedillo called the accusations "totally groundless and obviously false."
Last week, US District Court Judge Michael Shea of Connecticut ruled that Zedillo has legal immunity as a former head of state, the Associated Press reports. A lawyer for the plaintiffs told the AP that he'll appeal the ruling to the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals.
"Ernesto Zedillo has been a tireless champion of justice and human rights, and the dismissal of this insulting lawsuit is long overdue," says Jonathan Freiman ’98JD, a New Haven lawyer representing the former president, in an e-mail to the Yale Alumni Magazine. "It’s telling that just two weeks ago, The Elders—a group founded by Nelson Mandela, now led by Kofi Annan, and made up of 12 independent global leaders working together for peace and human rights—invited Mr. Zedillo to become one of them."
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