La Paz:
An angry mob in Bolivia burned alive a man suspected of murder, the second episode of its kind in less than a year in the same region, police said Monday.
The incident occurred Sunday night in the main plaza of Palos Blancos where a crowd tied the unidentified 35-year-old man to a post and set him on fire.
The man had been arrested on suspicion of murdering a businessman, but residents of the town later beat him and killed him, said Colonel Walter Villarpando, a police commander.
Palos Blancos is located in a rural area 220 kilometers northeast of La Paz.
Last August in the same region, hundreds of people trapped another man suspected of murder in his own vehicle and set it on fire.
The Bolivian constitution recognizes the practice of communitarian justice, which has ancient roots in indigenous societies.
But in those cases the law allows only for light penalties like community service or fines for minor offenses or violations of local customs.
In its latest report on human rights, Bolivia's Public Defender's Office said a rise in the incidence of lynchings was a reflection of a crisis in the judicial system that has left ordinary citizens feeling defenseless against crime.
Although perpetrators of mob justice are criminally liable, they are often protected by their own communities, it said.