Six municipal police officers charged for Mexico extrajudicial killings

This is not the first time civilians have been attacked by law enforcement agencies in Veracruz state, where organised crime groups are active and there is a significant record of people going missing.

Mexican authorities have accused six municipal police officers of being responsible for the extrajudicial killings of two people in violence-wracked Veracruz state.

The police officers were charged with homicide and failure to prevent the crimes that transpired, the local state prosecutor said in a statement Sunday.

The murders took place Thursday in Orizaba, a town about 250 kilometres outside Mexico City when police fired on Ernesto Perez Gonzalez and his brother Roman. Police suspected in these crimes have been detained and are being held in a medium security prison.

This is not the first time civilians have been attacked by law enforcement agencies in Veracruz state, where organised crime groups are active and there is a significant record of people going missing.

In October, eight state police officers accused of the enforced disappearance of a person in 2014 were arrested. Then in February, the government of Veracruz imprisoned 19 policemen who were active and three commanders during the previous administration in the suspected abduction and killings of people.

(With inputs from agencies.)