Quetzal
09-04-05, 06:56 AM
Mexico City mayor awaits arrest
Mexico City's mayor has stopped working and says he will wait at home to be arrested for alleged contempt of court during a land dispute.
He could face criminal charges after he was stripped of his immunity from prosecution, possibly ruling him out of next year's presidential election.
Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador - favourite for the presidency - says it is a plot to stop him running in the poll.
It will be up to a judge to decide whether he should face any charges.
Mr Obrador said that if a judge ordered his arrest, he would not seek bail and would go to prison voluntarily.
"What happens now is that the attorney-general's office asks a judge for an arrest order and at that moment I go to jail," he told journalists outside his house.
Mr Lopez Obrador is accused of breaching a court order after allowing the construction of an access road to a city hospital said to go through a disputed plot of expropriated land to continue.
If he is charged, he is likely to be fired as mayor and may be barred from running in the election.
The lower house of Congress voted to strip him of his political immunity after hours of debate.
Mexico City's mayor has stopped working and says he will wait at home to be arrested for alleged contempt of court during a land dispute.
He could face criminal charges after he was stripped of his immunity from prosecution, possibly ruling him out of next year's presidential election.
Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador - favourite for the presidency - says it is a plot to stop him running in the poll.
It will be up to a judge to decide whether he should face any charges.
Mr Obrador said that if a judge ordered his arrest, he would not seek bail and would go to prison voluntarily.
"What happens now is that the attorney-general's office asks a judge for an arrest order and at that moment I go to jail," he told journalists outside his house.
Mr Lopez Obrador is accused of breaching a court order after allowing the construction of an access road to a city hospital said to go through a disputed plot of expropriated land to continue.
If he is charged, he is likely to be fired as mayor and may be barred from running in the election.
The lower house of Congress voted to strip him of his political immunity after hours of debate.