Kenia Inés Hernández Montalván is a human rights lawyer and advocate for the rights of Mexico’s indigenous peoples. As leader of the Colectivo Libertario Zapata Vive, she directs a peasant movement that organizes peaceful resistance to defend communal land, oppose forced evictions and protect territories from mining, logging and hydroelectric schemes. She also co-founded the Movimiento Nacional por la Libertad de los y las Presos Políticos, which opposes the criminalization of peaceful protest and campaigns for the release of individuals incarcerated for exercising their rights to free expression and assembly. In addition, she files complaints with the National Human Rights Commission, engages UN special rapporteurs, and provides legal defence to political prisoners, using the courts to uphold the rule of law despite facing fabricated charges herself.
On 18 October 2020, she was arrested and charged with “armed robbery with violence” and “attacks on communication routes,” charges widely recognized as manufactured to silence her activism. She now faces ten ongoing criminal proceedings. During her detention, serious concerns have been raised about violations of her due process and fair trial rights, including lack of interpretation in her native language, restricted participation in legal proceedings, and ill-treatment, including repeated transfers between four prisons.
