May 5 (UPI) — Women in Mexico reacted with outrage after prosecutors sent a flurry of tweets critical of a female homicide victim’s lifestyle, implying she was at fault for her own killing.
Lesby Berlin Osorio, 22, was found strangled to death on the campus of Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico in Mexico City on Wednesday. Shortly after the investigation began, the Public Prosecutor’s Office sent out a string of tweets highlighting Osorio’s lifestyle, from past drug and alcohol use to her decision to live with a boyfriend.
Tweets referred to her as an “alcoholic” and a “bad student.”
Women responded on Twitter, outraged prosecutors would imply Osorio was somehow responsible for the situation that led to her death.
A flood of more than 50,000 tweets followed, using the hashtag #SeMiMatan, or “if they kill me,” where women wondered what prosecutors would have said about them if they had been the victim.
“I hope the police (and media) focus on my killer, not on my clothes, studies, work and who I go to bed with,” said Paula Villareal, a Mexican computer scientist.
Others questioned whether they would be blamed for walking alone, wearing a skirt or using contraceptives.
Rodolfo Rios, the chief prosecutor in Mexico City, responded to the uproar by calling the tweets “inappropriate” and ordering them to be deleted.
“The behavior, private life or social status of a victim should never affect an investigation,” he said, according to the BBC.
Rios did not say whether any disciplinary action would be taken against individuals responsible for the incident.
The BBC reported there was a protest planned on the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico campus against the prosecutor’s office’s tweets Friday.
