"International Forum calls for immediate release and reparations for defenders of the Guapinol River", 14 February 2022

...The International Forum for Human Rights in Honduras welcomes the granting of two injunctions on 10 February 2022 by the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice in favour of the 8 defenders of the Guapinol River in Honduras; decisions that recognise the illegality of the process and declared a mistrial, resulting in the definitive dismissal of the case and an order for the immediate release of the prisoners...

The day before the Supreme Court decisions, on 9 February, the Trujillo Sentencing Court sentenced six of the eight defenders: Porfirio Sorto Cedillo, José Abelino Cedillo, Orbin Naún Hernández, Kelvin Alejandro Romero, Ewer Alexander Cedillo and Daniel Márquez, for the crimes of aggravated damages and simple damages against the company Inversiones Los Pinares and unjust deprivation of liberty.

As confirmed by the Supreme Court, we are concerned that the Trujillo Sentencing Court not only based its conviction on a deficient investigation by the Public Prosecutor's Office that never managed to prove the guilt of the defenders, but also ignored all the information presented on the illegality of the concessions that originated this socio-environmental conflict.

We call on the Trujillo Court and the Olanchito Penal Centre to speed up the procedure fulfilling the ruling of the Supreme Court on 10 February for the immediate release of the six defenders, who are still deprived of their liberty.

We also demand that the government of Honduras, in compliance with the recommendations of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, provide full reparation to the defenders of Guapinol...

Honduras must move towards ensuring that cases such as that of the Guapinol River defenders do not happen again...