Judge orders Mexican pro-abortion party to compensate bishop

Mexico City, Mexico, Aug 21, 2007 / 08:53 am

A civil judge in Mexico has ordered the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD), which recently pushed for the legalization of abortion in Mexico City, to compensate Bishop Onesimo Cepeda of Ecatepec with $180,000 for moral damages.

Judge Sandra Luz Diaz Ortiz, notified both the PRD and the bishop of her ruling on Saturday, which brings to an end the lawsuit filed by the PRD against Bishop Cepeda for comments criticizing the party for not accepting their defeat at the polls during the presidential elections.

In her ruling, Judge Diaz ordered the PRD to compensate Bishop Cepeda and publish an excerpt from her ruling in two national newspapers.  Diaz also ruled to have the ruling featured on a news program by popular journalist Joaquin Lopez Doriga, where last year party leader Cota Montano called the bishop a “reactionary” and a “merchant of religion and politics.”  Party spokesmen even claimed that “somebody was paying Bishop Cepeda to speak against the PRD.”

The judge concluded that the PRD should compensate for moral damages because it was proven that the party had the “deceitful” intention to publicly insult Bishop Cepeda.  However, she did not find Cato Montano directly responsible, but rather considered his role to be circumstantial.

The PRD could appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court of Mexico City.