Mexican court orders extortion case over Grupo Herdez to resume

The Fourth Collegiate Court in Mexico City unanimously revoked the dismissal filed by the Mexico City Attorney General's Office in a case involving alleged extortion against Grupo Herdez through fake labor lawsuits. The court ordered the prosecutor's office, led by Bertha Alcalde Luján, to proceed with the criminal case against the accused.

The decision granted Grupo Herdez a definitive suspension to keep the trial from halting. Labor lawyer Irene León Escamilla was arrested in October 2024 and bound over for trial that same month on charges of gang-related procedural fraud, spending 16 months in pretrial detention at the Santa Martha Acatitla prison.

Prosecutors had decided to withdraw charges during an intermediate hearing on May 19, 2026, citing alleged irregularities and claiming a lack of evidence. A district criminal court subsequently denied Grupo Herdez a provisional injunction against the dismissal decreed by supervisory judge José Alfredo Sotelo Llamas.

Following that denial, Grupo Herdez filed a review appeal. The Fourth Collegiate Court determined that the decision to dismiss the criminal action could be unconstitutional, ruling under article 147 of the Amparo Law that the dismissal has no legal effect and that proceedings must continue before the trial judge.