Article 19 Political Constitution of the United Mexican States

No detention before a judicial authority may exceed the term of seventy-two hours, from the moment the suspect is placed at its disposal, without being justified by an order binding over for trial in which the following shall be expressed: the crime imputed to the accused; the place, time and circumstances of execution, as well as the data that establish that an act that the law designates as a crime has been committed and that there is a probability that the suspect committed it or participated in its commission.

The Public Prosecutor's Office (Ministerio Público) may only request preventive imprisonment from the judge when other precautionary measures are not sufficient to guarantee the appearance of the accused at the trial, the development of the investigation, the protection of the victim, of the witnesses and of the community, as well as when the accused is being prosecuted or has been previously sentenced for the commission of an intentional crime. The judge shall order preventive imprisonment ex officio, in the cases of abuse or sexual violence against minors, organized crime, extortion, crimes provided for in the applicable laws committed for the illegal introduction and diversion, production, preparation, sale, acquisition, importation, exportation, transportation, storage and distribution of chemical precursors and essential chemical substances, synthetic drugs, fentanyl and derivatives, intentional homicide, femicide, rape, kidnapping, human trafficking, theft of a dwelling house, use of social programs for electoral purposes, corruption in the case of the crimes of illicit enrichment and abusive exercise of functions, theft of cargo transport in any of its modalities, crimes in matters of hydrocarbons, petroleum products or petrochemicals, crimes in matters of enforced disappearance of persons and disappearance committed by private individuals, crimes committed with violent means such as weapons and explosives, crimes in matters of firearms and explosives for the exclusive use of the Army, the Navy and the Air Force, the crime of terrorism and the serious crimes determined by law against the security of the nation, of health, of the free development of the personality, smuggling and any activity related to false tax receipts, in the terms fixed by law. To any national or foreigner involved in the manufacture, distribution, sale, transfer or bringing into the national territory, unlawfully, of weapons, and to any foreigner who carries out activities outside the law linked to the second and third paragraphs of Article 40 of this Constitution, the most severe penalty possible shall be imposed, as well as the precautionary measure of ex officio preventive imprisonment. For the interpretation and application of the rules provided for in this paragraph, the organs of the State shall adhere to their literal wording, any analogous or extensive interpretation that seeks to render inapplicable, suspend, modify or render nugatory its terms or its validity, whether totally or partially, being prohibited.

The law shall determine the cases in which the judge may revoke the liberty of the individuals bound over for trial.

The term for issuing the order binding over for trial may be extended only at the request of the suspect, in the form indicated by law. The prolongation of the detention to his detriment shall be sanctioned by the criminal law. The authority responsible for the establishment in which the suspect is interned, who within the term indicated above does not receive a certified copy of the order binding over for trial and of the one decreeing preventive imprisonment, or of the request for extension of the constitutional term, shall call the judge's attention to said matter at the very act of the conclusion of the term and, if it does not receive the aforementioned record within the following three hours, shall place the suspect at liberty.

Every proceeding shall necessarily be conducted for the criminal act or acts indicated in the order binding over for trial. If in the course of a proceeding it appears that a crime different from the one being prosecuted has been committed, it shall be the object of a separate investigation, without prejudice to the fact that the joinder may later be decreed, if it is appropriate.

If after the issuance of the order binding over for trial for organized crime the accused evades the action of justice or is placed at the disposal of another judge who claims him abroad, the proceeding shall be suspended together with the terms for the statute of limitations of the criminal action.

Any ill-treatment in the arrest or in the prisons, any annoyance inflicted without legal cause, any toll or contribution, in the jails, are abuses that shall be corrected by the laws and repressed by the authorities.