OAXACA, Mexico – A Mexican federal judge ordered the release of a man arrested last year for the October 2006 killing of U.S. independent journalist Brad Will in the southern state of Oaxaca.

Magistrate Javier Leonel Santiago Martinez described the evidence submitted by federal prosecutors against Juan Manuel Martinez Moreno as “false” and “fabricated,” echoing criticism of the indictment by Will’s family and organizations such as Amnesty International.

Martinez Moreno is a member of the Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca, or APPO, the grassroots coalition behind a months-long 2006 uprising against the state’s authoritarian governor, Ulises Ruiz.

Will was gunned down on Oct. 27, 2006, while covering the events in Oaxaca for the indymedia collective.

Video from Will’s camera and photographs snapped by other journalists showed men subsequently identified as police officers and pro-Ruiz municipal officials firing guns in the direction of APPO protesters at the time of the American’s death.

Despite the video and photos, Oaxaca’s attorney general, another Ruiz ally, declined to bring charges against the cops and officials.

And the Mexican federal prosecutors who took over the case after complaints from Will’s family likewise ignored the evidence pointing to Ruiz loyalists, focusing instead on APPO.

This week’s federal court ruling “demonstrates that Juan Manuel (Martinez Moreno) is unjustly jailed,” APPO spokesman Cesar Mateos said. “It’s one more proof of his innocence, we hope they don’t look for another pretext to keep him in prison.”

Amnesty International and Mexico’s independent National Human Rights Commission joined Brad Will’s parents and brother in denouncing the original indictment against Martinez Moreno, calling the move to prosecute him wildly inconsistent with the evidence.

The Oaxaca conflict began in May 2006 with a teachers’ strike.

The walkout’s transformation into a movement to oust Ruiz occurred on June 14 of that year, when police used force to break up a sit-in by strikers in the main square of Oaxaca city.

Ruiz was a polarizing figure even before the clash with the teachers, as many accused him of rigging the 2004 election that brought him to power in the impoverished, largely Indian-populated state.

The uprising against the governor was crushed by thousands of federal police and troops in November 2006, but not before at least 20 people – mostly Ruiz opponents – had been killed and the protests had caused millions of dollars in lost tourism revenue for picturesque Oaxaca city.

Mexico’s Supreme Court recently issued a non-binding opinion that found Ruiz responsible for the violence and deaths. EFE