E/CN.4/2004/80/Add.2 page 11 communities. The punishment of such activities sometimes gives rise to violations of fundamental civil rights, as has been the case in the Sierra Tarahumara and among the Huicholes in Nayarit. 28. In the course of the last year the Federal Government has redoubled its efforts to solve the problem of the “hot spots” and to find negotiated solutions to particularly conflict-ridden situations, as in the case of Bernalejo, Zacatecas, among the Yaquis in Sonora, in Chimalapa, Oaxaca, and other instances. At times, however, it is the municipal or State agrarian authorities in addition to the interests of the local caciques that stand in the way of solutions. Particularly pertinent here is the involvement of the agrarian courts, which have received reports of numerous cases of corruption adversely affecting indigenous communities (e.g. the Huaves on the Tehuantepec Isthmus were divested of 30,000 hectares of land). C. Indigenous people in the justice system 29. It is precisely in the enforcement and dispensation of justice that one sees how vulnerable the indigenous peoples are; they report that they are discriminated against, harassed and abused (E/CN.4/2002/72/Add.1). The reports received indicate that many indigenous suspects are helpless when facing a public prosecutor or judge since they do not speak or understand Spanish and there is no interpreter into their own language, although this right is laid down by law. Official defence lawyers operating in indigenous areas are few in number and generally poorly trained, and for the most part people have neither the resources nor the opportunity to contract the services of a defence lawyer. 30. The detention of suspicious or presumed criminals without an arrest warrant, pre-trial detention for periods exceeding the statutory limit, house searches, thefts of victims’ belongings and other abuses and denial of due process are widespread practices among the municipal and State police, and sometimes police patrols and even army personnel. A recurrent topic is the physical abuse and torture of indigenous detainees and the ineffectiveness of complaining about it. There are written and aural accounts of indigenous people who have died in unexplained circumstances while in the hands of the authorities. The Special Rapporteur received numerous complaints in this regard in the course of his mission. 31. Trials involving indigenous people are frequently riddled with irregularities, not only because of the lack of interpreters and trained defence lawyers but also because the public prosecutor and judges are usually unaware of indigenous legal customs. On occasion the judgements handed down are out of all proportion to the offences, as in cases of environmental or health offences or breaches of federal laws on weapons and telecommunications. 32. The abuses experienced by indigenous prisoners have forced the National Commission for the Development of the Indigenous Peoples (CDI), the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) and some State governments to establish programmes for release on bail which have benefited numerous detainees in various parts of Mexico. CDI monitors, with inadequate means, the strict application of the law to indigenous defendants. A similar programme operates in the