human rights defender

Pablo López Alavez

Actions and Campaigns

© Consorcio Oaxaca

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

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