Court frees prison executive arrested after escape of Mexican drug lord

The former judicial director of Mexico's federal Altiplano prison, Leonor Garcia, has been exonerated of responsibility for the escape of drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman in July 2015.

In a statement on Saturday, Mexico's prosecutor general said the 3rd District Court had lifted charged faced by the former prison executive, Xinhua reported.

Garcia, along with 19 other prison executives and security officials, had been facing charges since September for either aiding and abetting Guzman in his escape or for criminal negligence.

Garcia was also released from a federal prison in the western state of Nayarit.

The leader of the Sinaloa cartel escaped the prison in the central State of Mexico on July 11, 2015, through a massive tunnel dug by his associates from a building outside the prison right into his cell.

However, the prosecutor-general's office stated that evidence against Garcia would continue to be examined and that she remained a person of interest in the case.

Among those arrested after Guzman's escape are Valentin Cardenas, the former general director of Altiplano and Celina Oseguera, the former national coordinator of federal prisons.

Guzman was recaptured by the army on January 8 in Sinaloa and is currently being held in a northern prison along the US border, awaiting a potential extradition to the US.

--IANS

sku/