Genaro García Luna appeals verdict and sentence for drug trafficking against him in the US.

( Spanish) – Genaro García Luna, former Secretary of Security of Mexico during the Government of former President Felipe Calderón and who was sentenced to just over 38 years in prison in the United States for links to drug trafficking, presented an appeal this Wednesday to appeal the verdict and sentence in against him, according to a document obtained by .

García Luna, arrested in the United States in December 2019, was found guilty in February 2023 and on October 16 he received a sentence of 460 months in total, in addition to five years of probation and the payment of a fine of US$ 2 million. The former official has reiterated his innocence throughout the entire judicial process.

César de Castro, García Luna’s lawyer, had announced in an interview with that they would present the document for the appeal process within 14 days after the conviction for drug trafficking.

García Luna was arrested after being accused of collaborating with the Sinaloa Cartel. For more than a decade he served in senior security positions, including as head of Mexico’s now-dissolved Federal Investigation Agency.

US prosecutors said that the official accepted million-dollar bribes from the Sinaloa Cartel, then led by Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, also imprisoned in the United States. According to prosecutors, he allowed the criminal group to operate with impunity in the country, among other things helping traffickers transport drugs to the United States.

María Santana and Verónica Calderón collaborated for this report.