Prosecutors have accused a small town mayor in eastern Mexico of ordering the murder of a journalist whose brutally tortured body was found over the weekend.

Moises Sanchez Cerezo, 49, the editor and owner of La Union de Medellin newspaper, was killed on January 2, the same day he was kidnapped in the town of Medellin in the coastal state of Veracruz.

His body was recovered after a former municipal policeman confessed that he had taken part in the murder, along with five others, on express orders of the town's deputy police chief.

Veracruz prosecutor Luis Angel Bravo told MVS Radio that he would ask the state assembly to authorise the arrest of the mayor, Omar Cruz.

"The criminal group was contacted by the chauffeur and personal bodyguard of the mayor of Medellin, who asked them to make Moises disappear," he said on Monday.

Sanchez Cerezo's newspaper often published stories about drug trafficking and official corruption in Medellin, which is located near the city of Veracruz, an important port on the Gulf of Mexico that has been the focus of drug-related violence.

Since 2000, 15 journalists have been killed and four others have gone missing in Veracruz, one of the most dangerous states for journalists in a country where 82 have been killed during the same period.