MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico's congress has voted to expand the number of crimes subject to pre-trial detention without bail.
Congress expanded the list of crimes not eligible for bail to include corruption, electoral crimes, fuel theft, armed robbery, weapons possession and others.
Currently, pre-trial detention is mandatory only for the most serious crimes like murder, kidnapping and treason. The changes to the Constitution must still be approved by a majority of Mexico's state legislatures.
Rights groups criticized the move, while business groups praised it Thursday.
Business groups say they have been hit by a rising wave of robberies.
But the United Nations said bail should be considered on a case-by-case basis, and rejected excluding it automatically.
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