The talk will be a unique opportunity to listen to the testimony of Alejandro Cerezo Contreras a 24-year-old student of Sociology at UNAM (Autonomous University of Mexico) and former prisoner of conscience.

Alejandro is a member of the Cerezo Committee, an organisation that campaigns for the release of prisoners of conscience in Mexico. It was founded in 2001 in response to the sentencing of Alejandro and his two brothers for allegedly setting off explosives in banks in Mexico city.

The boys were sentenced to 13 years imprisonment under charges of terrorism, organised crime and concealing weapons at home. Their guilt has never been proven, according to the Mexican League for the Defence of Human Rights (LIMEDDH) and other human rights organisations. The Cerezo brothers had participated actively in the campaign against the privatisation of the UNAM in 1999 and in other social struggles alongside indigenous people.

In 2003 thanks to their efforts in campaigning the charges of terrorism were dropped and the sentences were reduced to seven and a half years. In March 2005 Alejandro was released but his two brothers are still in a high security prison in which they say they have suffered continued harassment and torture.

Members of the Cerezo Committe have been the subject of death threats and surveillance due to its commitment to the defense of human rights in Mexico. They are able to carry out their vital work thanks to the international support and the work of organizations such as Peace Brigades International, whose international observers accompany and protect them.