[JURIST] The Mexican judge who last month ordered the arrest of former Mexican President Luis Echeverria [Trial Watch profile; JURIST news archive] did so after finding there was probable cause to believe that Echeverria ordered an attack on student protesters [backgrounder] in 1968 while he was the country's Interior Minister, according to a Mexican court report obtained by El Universal. Judge Ricardo Paredes' report indicates that Echeverria ordered officials to repress the student revolt, during which at least 25 but as many as 350 people were killed, without any justification in an effort to destroy a "national group" of dissent. AP has more. El Universal has local coverage, in Spanish.

A Mexican appeals court cleared the way for charges to be brought against Echeverria [JURIST report] last month. In addition to ordering the student massacre, Echeverria is also accused [JURIST report; Mexico AG report] of involvement in the murders and disappearances of more than 500 leftist dissidents during a period of time in the 1960s and 1970s called Mexico's "dirty war" [National Security Archive backgrounder].