A former mayor from the southern Mexican state of Yucatan and five local police were sent to prison for illegally arresting and torturing a journalist in 2014. The acts were retaliation for unwanted coverage.

The mayor and cops from the town of Seye were each sentenced to prison following their convictions on the charges of abuse of authority and causing injuries to a civilian, information released by Mexico’s Federal Ministry revealed. While authorities did not reveal the names of the officers, available information notes that five were sentenced to two years in prison, while the sixth received an additional four months behind bars.

On January 1, 2014, the cops arrested and tortured Edwin Canche Pech, a photographer with El Diario de Yucatan after he had arrived at the scene of a single-vehicle crash, the international press freedom organization Article 19 reported at the time. The driver of the vehicle, Sergio Dzul Huchim, was a relative of Ermilio Dzul Huchim, the mayor of Seye.

Following the crash, several officials and the mayor arrived at the scene. Canche Pech took photographs of all involved. The mayor ordered local police chief Jesus Chuch Aldana to arrest the photographer. The cops took Canche to the mayor’s office, where they beat and held him down for Dzul Huchim to strike him several times while telling the reporter to stop making his administration look bad, Article 19 reported. While the case was initially covered up by state officials, the journalist and press freedom groups pressured Mexican authorities to pursue the case.

Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded the Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and Stephen K. Bannon. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook . He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com .