Skip to main content

Mexico City warrant for opposition legislator draws anger

In this file photo, Mexico City's Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum speaks to the press regarding the spread of the new coronavirus, as Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador stand behind, early Thursday, March 19, 2020. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano) In this file photo, Mexico City's Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum speaks to the press regarding the spread of the new coronavirus, as Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador stand behind, early Thursday, March 19, 2020. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Share
MEXICO CITY -

Mexico City prosecutors announced Thursday they have issued an arrest warrant for the top opposition legislator in the city's assembly, drawing cries of political persecution.

The issue is a sensitive one for Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum, who has been unable to jail anyone for the 2021 collapse of a city subway line that killed 26 people.

Instead, the city's prosecutors announced Thursday they are seeking to arrest city legislator Christian Von Roehrich for his alleged role in a scandal in which builders were allowed to construct extra floors in apartment buildings. None of the extra floors collapsed.

Von Roehrich belongs to the conservative opposition National Action Party. Prosecutors charged him with illegal use of authority and criminal conspiracy. The alleged scheme purportedly involved bribes for allowing developers to violate zoning rules and put extra floors on apartment buildings.

Sheinbaum is seen as the most likely 2024 presidential candidate for President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's Morena party.

Andres Atayde, the leader of the National Action Party in Mexico City, wrote in his Twitter account that "we warned you: Morena doesn't fight corruption, it persecutes the opposition."

The energetic prosecution in the extra-floors scandal contrasts with the lenient attitude authorities have shown to about 10 former officials implicated in the 2021 collapse of an elevated subway line that killed 26 people.

Investigations showed that construction defects played a key role in the collapse. The line was built under another prominent member of Lopez Obrador's party, Foreign Relations Secretary Marcelo Ebrard, in the early 2000s when he was mayor.

Those implicated have been charged with involuntary manslaughter, causing damages and injuries. But those charges are considered less serious than the ones against Von Roehrich, and the former officials have remained free while facing trial.

CTVNews.ca Top Stories

Trump chooses anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health secretary

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump says he will nominate anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, putting him in charge of a massive agency that oversees everything from drug, vaccine and food safety to medical research and the social safety net programs Medicare and Medicaid.

Centre Block renovation facing timeline and budget 'pressures'

The multi-billion-dollar renovation of parliament’s Centre Block building continues to be on time and on budget, but construction crews are facing 'pressures' when it comes to the deadline and total costs, according to the department in charge of the project.

Measles cases in New Brunswick continue to climb

The number of measles cases in New Brunswick continue to climb. Officials with New Brunswick’s Department of Health said as of Thursday, the number of confirmed cases since October has reached 43.

Local Spotlight