Trial against Lozoya stopped | The Century of Torreón

The Second Collegiate Court of Appeals in Criminal Matters of the First Circuit has granted protection to the former director of Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex), Emilio Lozoya Austin, which has resulted in the temporary suspension of his intermediate hearing in the Agronitrogenados case.

This decision provisionally halts the process against him, which was scheduled to resume in the coming weeks. Lozoya’s defense challenged the determination of the First Collegiate Court of Appeal in Criminal Matters of the First Circuit, which had decided to continue with the procedure.

The resolution of the Second Collegiate Court grants the provisional suspension so that the jurisdictional authority in charge of the criminal process suspends the procedure corresponding to Lozoya once the intermediate stage has concluded, until a final resolution is issued.

This measure is in addition to the suspension granted less than two weeks ago by a federal judge, who also sought to avoid the reactivation of the process against him.

Emilio Lozoya was placed in preventive detention in November 2021 for the Agronitrogenados and Odebrecht cases, due to the risk of escape after being seen dining at a luxury restaurant in Mexico City. Later, in February 2022, he left the North Prison thanks to a judicial resolution that allowed him to continue his process for the Odebrecht case in freedom.

Lozoya was extradited to Mexico in 2020 as a protected witness of the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) after being arrested in Spain. The FGR issued an arrest warrant in July 2019 against him for allegedly receiving bribes from the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht.