Fighting Injustice from Afar

by Matt Kelley · 2009-06-16 05:36:00 UTC
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Eric Volz was an American ex-pat living in Nicaragua when tragedy struck. His ex-girlfriend was murdered in a beach town, and quickly Eric became a suspect. Despite his strong alibi and the lack of any physical evidence connecting him to the crime, he was convicted and sentenced to 30 years in prison. He served more than one year before his case was overturned on appeal and he was deported to the United States, where he is today.

But the case hasn't gone away - the Nicaraguan government is seeking to reinstate charges, and Volz is fighting back from the U.S. Today, he is in Washington, D.C., filing a petition with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights seeking termination of the charges against him and a declaration that Volz's human rights were violated. He's live-tweeting his experience today in D.C. @ericvolz.

"I believe in justice and in the rule of law," Volz said in a statement today. "I lost more than a year of my life for a crime the Nicaraguan government and court system knew I did not commit. What happened to me should not happen again to anyone. The courts exist to protect the innocent, and that is why I am asking the Inter-American Commission to act."

Read more on his case here.

Matt Kelley is the Online Communications Manager at the Innocence Project and a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. Follow him on Twitter @mattjkelley.
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