human rights defender

Kenia Inés Hernández Montalván

Actions and Campaigns

Urgent support needed

Medical assistance

Organization affiliation

  • Colectivo Libertario Zapata Vive
  • Movimiento por la Libertad de Presos Políticos del Estado de Guerrero (MOLPPEG)

HRD's year of birth

1989

HRD's Gender

Woman

Type of HRD

  • Lawyer

HRD's thematic area of engagement

  • Civil and political rights
  • Land rights
  • Women's rights

HRD's geographical origin

Urban

Current Status

In prison (sentenced)

HRD's bio and work

Kenia Hernández is an Amuzga indigenous lawyer and defender of human rights and indegenous people. She is of Afro-Mexican descent, and is a mother and primary carer of two children.

Kenia is the coordinator of the Colectivo Libertario Zapata Vive, which promotes different forms of peaceful resistance against neoliberal development models imposed by the Mexican State. She also co-founded the Movimiento por la Libertad de Presos Políticos del Estado de Guerrero (MOLPPEG).

After learning about the inequalities in which women in her community lived, she decided to study law to support them, dedicating herself to the defence of the territory in Guerrero, defending women victims of gender violence, and supporting the cause of political prisoners.

Detained since

Oct 18, 2020

Charge(s)

  • Damage to public property
  • Other

Sentence

Criminalised in several cases. In two of them, she has already been sentenced to more than 21 years in prison

Latitude: 19.4243182680293

Longitude: -99.01279478754358

Geolocation of detention

Country or area of detention

Region of detention

  • Americas: Latin America and the Caribbean

Location of detention - City/Town

State of Mexico

Location of detention - Facility

Nezahualcóyotl Sur Prison

Allegations / reports of ill-treatment

Kenia Hernández reported facing restrictions in accessing healthcare in prison as well as drinking water. She has been subjected to severe isolation and detention in a location far away from her children, who were only able to visit her every six months. Kenia's correspondence has been monitored by prison authorities, with supplies and communications from judicial authorities not being delivered. She has faced restrictions on meetings with her legal defence team and on receiving visits from human rights organisations. Kenia has carried out 2 hunger strikes requesting improvements of her detention conditions.

A 2022 report published by national and international human rights organisations after visiting Kenia three times concluded that at least 13 human rights had been violated.

In a complaint submitted to the Human Rights Council in September 2024, Kenia denounced how "During the time I have been deprived of my liberty, I have been subjected to ill-treatment, discrimination, physical and psychological violence".

Any other relevant documents

Join communication, UN special procedures, AL MEX 7/2022 : https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadPublicCommunicationFile?gId=27296

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