Kriti Mehrotra
As a documentary series exploring the efforts of a dedicated attorney as she challenges an entire system in the hopes of ending violence against women in Mexico, Netflix’s ‘The Prosecutor’ is captivating. That’s because it revolves around Sayuri Herrera Román, the first-ever Director of the recently established Office of Femicide within the capital city’s Department of Justice. It honestly details everything from her background and early years to her motivations and qualifications to shine a clear light upon her forever unwavering dedication to the law.
Sayuri Herrera Román’s Early Experiences Inspired Her to Pursue a Career in Law
Born on March 20, 1982, in Mexico City, Mexico, as one of four children in a family of farmers, Sayuri Herrera Román understood the significance of hard work, integrity, and knowledge at an early age. However, her childhood was far from sunshine and roses, as her father allegedly ended up being defrauded when he tried to spread his wings by evolving into a blue-collar laborer. What’s more is that he then reportedly somehow got detained, only for a female attorney to soon take over and successfully help him get out of jail as well as give him his life back.
According to Sayuri’s own accounts, her father has always spoken of his ordeal with indignation despite offering his attorney endless praise, which is what inspired her career choice. She had no idea she would kickstart her career through a student strike in 1999 while pursuing her Bachelor’s degree in Law at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). After all, when free/low-cost education was suddenly eliminated from the institution, she knew she had to fight back to ensure adequate resources for every young individual, no matter their financial background.
Sayuri was a delegate to the General Strike Council, the highest decision-making body of the UNAM Student Strike Movement, right until it ended after 293 days on February 6, 2000. She was allegedly detained for her role in the matter but soon regained her freedom, earned her degree, and then pursued further studies. She obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Metropolitan Autonomous University and a Master’s degree in Human Rights from Ibero-American University. Since then, the lawyer has worked on cases of executions, false accusations, torture, wrongful imprisonments, and gender-based sexual abuse before finding her calling in the field of femicide in 2017.
Sayuri Herrera Román is Juggling Her Role as a Mother With Her Career as a Public Servant
Sayuri once proudly worked at the Center for Human Rights-Fray Francisco De Vitoria, a non-profit non-governmental organization focused on defending the basic rights of vulnerable groups. It was while she was there that she really began focusing on femicides as she learned precisely how bad the situation had gotten in her homeland owing to what appeared to be systemic oversights. The first case she thus handled in this particular division was that of 22-year-old Lesvy Berlín Rivera Osorio’s May 3, 2017, murder at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).
Sayuri was successful in bringing Lesvy’s assailant to justice, resulting in her suddenly evolving into a public figure, a social attorney, and an advocate against gender-based/domestic violence. Her work here is how she was appointed the first-ever Director of the Office of Femicide within the Department of Justice when the branch was newly established in the early 2020s. Then, in 2022, with further success, she was promoted to General Coordinator of Investigation of Gender-Based Crimes and of Attention to Victims of the Attorney General’s Office in Mexico City. Since then, Sayuri has proudly maintained these two positions, but it’s likely she is now looking forward to moving on and bringing about change not only in the capital city but across the nation.
Sayuri stated on the show that she has recently accepted a role with the Women’s Secretariat to help them establish gender-specialized/femicide prosecuting offices in all states. She made this move because she wants to keep advancing her cause while also finally finding a balance between her personal and professional experiences, especially now that she has a daughter. Sayuri’s adopted little girl (around 2 years old today) is her pride and joy, so her priorities these days are her well-being as well as her long-held ambition of possibly ending violence against women. She knows the world she desires doesn’t exist yet, but she is not losing hope because she wants her daughter to live her life without fear.
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