Mexico navy investigates sex abuse, torture claims

Mexico: Mexico`s navy said Thursday it was investigating allegations that marines sexually assaulted or tortured six women, marking the latest abuse claims against the country`s military.
The announcement came after the governmental National Human Rights Commission called for an investigation and for sanctions over the claims dating back to 2012.
The women were tortured or sexually abused, or both, according to the commission.
One victim testified that she was having breakfast at a food stand in the eastern state of Veracruz when she was taken into a vehicle at gunpoint and driven to a navy facility without any explanation on April 13, 2012, according to the commission.
There, she said, troops beat her and used electric shocks in her genitals and breasts. She was later taken to prosecutors and accused of organized crime.
The same day, another victim said she was in her home in the same city, Boca del Rio, when marines entered her home and took her away.
She was taken to a navy facility with four other women where she was also beaten and given electric shocks in her genitals and feet, causing her to lose a toe.
The five women were sent to the attorney general`s office in Mexico City to be investigated.
Mexican federal forces have faced multiple abuse accusations amid a relentless battle against drug cartels.
The national rights commission says army troops extrajudicially executed between 12 and 15 gang suspects after a shootout in central Mexico in June 2014.
In another case, four soldiers were arrested and accused of abducting and killing seven young people in the northern state of Zacatecas in July 2015.