human rights defender
Pablo López Alavez
Actions and Campaigns
© Consorcio Oaxaca
Pablo López Alavez
HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER
HRD's year of birth
1969
HRD's Gender
Man
Type of HRD
- Social and community leader
HRD's thematic area of engagement
- Environmental rights
- Indigenous peoples’ rights
- Land rights
HRD's geographical origin
Rural
Current Status
Released
HRD's bio and work
Pablo López Alavez is an indigenous Zapotec and human rights defender of environmental and indigenous rights. For more than 20 years, he has dedicated his life to protecting the forests of San Miguel and San Isidoro Aloapam in Oaxaca from deforestation.
Pablo López Alavez has held various public positions in his community, such as community policeman, member of the Drinking Water Committee, treasurer of the Road Committee, chairman of the Community Bus Committee and chairman of the Secondary School Committee. He frequently reported illegal logging and raised awareness about environmental protection and sustainability.
Detained since
Aug 15, 2010
Date of release
Mar 27, 2026
Charge(s)
- Other
Sentence
15 years and 3 months in prison
Latitude: 17.20157118800428
Longitude: -96.80234535158627
Geolocation of detention
Country or area of detention
Region of detention
- Americas: Latin America and the Caribbean
Location of detention - City/Town
Villa de Elta, Oaxaca
Location of detention - Facility
Villa de Elta Prison
Allegations / reports of ill-treatment
Pablo López Alavez was first tortured at the moment of his arrest in 2010, when 15 men with masked faces and heavy weapons attacked him and forced him to enter a vehicle without any explanation or warrant for his arrest. Acts of torture and ill-treatment at the hands of prison officials have continued since then.
In a 2023 interview with the newspaper El País, he denounced his detention conditions and the torture and ill-treatment he has suffered - such as the passing hunger and the constant harassment targeting his family on the outside, which forced them to abandon their community.
Recent case update / evolution
Pablo was first sentenced in 2017, but in October 2020, the proceedings were ordered to be reinstated due to multiple violations of his right to due process. The legal process started once again, and finally, on 6 March 2025, the sentencing hearing was held during which he was sentenced to 30 years in prison and ordered to pay 112,000 Mexican pesos (more than EUR 5,000) in reparation for the fabricated crime of aggravated homicide.
On 27 March 2026, Pablo was released following a ruling by the High Court of Justice of the State of Oaxaca on appeal. The decision revised the legal classification of the offences and imposed a sentence of 15 years and 3 months’ imprisonment for the offence of manslaughter. Taking into account the time the defender had spent in detention since his arbitrary arrest on 15 August 2010, the court deemed the sentence to have been served and ordered his immediate release.
Any other relevant documents
Opinion adopted by the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention No. 23/2017, A/HRC/WGAD/2017/23 : https://docs.un.org/en/A/HRC/WGAD/2017/23
Attachments
Documented by
- Country(ies) of nationality
- HRD's year of birth
- 1969
- HRD's Gender
- Man
- Type of HRD
- Social and community leader
- HRD's thematic area of engagement
- Environmental rights
- Indigenous peoples’ rights
- Land rights
- HRD's Picture
- Copyright
- Consorcio Oaxaca
- HRD's bio and work
Pablo López Alavez is an indigenous Zapotec and human rights defender of environmental and indigenous rights. For more than 20 years, he has dedicated his life to protecting the forests of San Miguel and San Isidoro Aloapam in Oaxaca from deforestation.
Pablo López Alavez has held various public positions in his community, such as community policeman, member of the Drinking Water Committee, treasurer of the Road Committee, chairman of the Community Bus Committee and chairman of the Secondary School Committee. He frequently reported illegal logging and raised awareness about environmental protection and sustainability.
- HRD's geographical origin
- Rural
- Country or area of detention
- Region of detention
- Americas: Latin America and the Caribbean
- Location of detention - City/Town
- Villa de Elta, Oaxaca
- Location of detention - Facility
- Villa de Elta Prison
- Geolocation of detention
Latitude: 17.20157118800428
Longitude: -96.80234535158627
- Geolocation of detention
- Detained since
- Aug 15, 2010
- Current Status
- Released
- Date of release
- Mar 27, 2026
- Charge(s)
- Other
- Sentence
15 years and 3 months in prison
- Recent case update / evolution
Pablo was first sentenced in 2017, but in October 2020, the proceedings were ordered to be reinstated due to multiple violations of his right to due process. The legal process started once again, and finally, on 6 March 2025, the sentencing hearing was held during which he was sentenced to 30 years in prison and ordered to pay 112,000 Mexican pesos (more than EUR 5,000) in reparation for the fabricated crime of aggravated homicide.
On 27 March 2026, Pablo was released following a ruling by the High Court of Justice of the State of Oaxaca on appeal. The decision revised the legal classification of the offences and imposed a sentence of 15 years and 3 months’ imprisonment for the offence of manslaughter. Taking into account the time the defender had spent in detention since his arbitrary arrest on 15 August 2010, the court deemed the sentence to have been served and ordered his immediate release.
- Allegations / reports of ill-treatment
Pablo López Alavez was first tortured at the moment of his arrest in 2010, when 15 men with masked faces and heavy weapons attacked him and forced him to enter a vehicle without any explanation or warrant for his arrest. Acts of torture and ill-treatment at the hands of prison officials have continued since then.
In a 2023 interview with the newspaper El País, he denounced his detention conditions and the torture and ill-treatment he has suffered - such as the passing hunger and the constant harassment targeting his family on the outside, which forced them to abandon their community.
- Protection actions and campaigns
- Any other relevant documents
Opinion adopted by the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention No. 23/2017, A/HRC/WGAD/2017/23 : https://docs.un.org/en/A/HRC/WGAD/2017/23
- Documented by
- Consent status
- Consent to register, store and publish the information
Supporting files
sorted by
Date added
5 relationships, 4 entities