MEXICO CITY (AP) - A woman in central Mexico has been sentenced to 22 years in prison for inciting the 2018 mob killing of two men, prosecutors said.
Convictions for such mob crimes are rare in Mexico because individual roles are often hard to establish. But in this case prosecutors in central Puebla state had an unusual piece of evidence, according to Monday’s announcement.
The woman, identified under Mexican law only by her first name, Agustina, apparently collected money to hire a vehicle with a loudspeaker to go around the village of Acatlan and urge people to come and help kill the men.
The two men were beaten and burned to death by an angry, cheering mob who claimed they were kidnappers. Prosecutors said the victims were farmers and there was no evidence they were involved in any crime.
Cellphone videos of the killings showed townspeople cheered, applauded and shouted “Long live the people!” as the bodies of the men were still smoking.
Vehicles with loudspeakers attached to their roofs are a fixture in many Mexico small towns, used for advertising products and events and selling newspapers.
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