"Honduran court confirms the sentences of Berta Cáceres’ murderers", 27 November 2024

...Over seven years after the assassination of Indigenous environmental activist Berta Cáceres, the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice of Honduras confirmed the sentence of the seven convicted for the murder...

David Castillo, the former president of the Desarrollos Energéticos S.A. (DESA) company and a West Point trained military intelligence officer, was found guilty as a co-perpetrator of the crime. The sentences against Douglas Bustillo (head of security for the Atala family and army soldier), Mariano Díaz (Major in the Honduran army), Henry Hernández (another Honduran soldier), and the assassins Elvin Rapalo, Edilson Duarte and Óscar Torres were also ratified.

...COPINH expressed that although the ratification of the sentence is important and reveals a criminal network between political and economic powers, the intellectual authors of the crime have yet to be convicted: “The Honduran justice system confirms the criminal structure behind the assassination of Berta Cáceres. The intellectual authors remain to be captured and prosecuted: the Atala family.”

In this regard, Berta Cáceres’ daughter, Bertha Zúniga, wrote on X, “After years of waiting for justice for my mother, Berta Cáceres, the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ) finally issued a sentence ratifying 7 of the 8 murderers -among them David Castillo, whose aggravating factors were removed, implying a reduction of the sentence…This sentence reaffirms the truth of my mother and the Lenca people and is the result of the struggle of many people and organizations to whom we are very grateful. The struggle continues until the intellectual authors of the crime are brought down! Berta Vive, the struggle continues!”...