Honduras must avoid criminalizing Gladys Lanza, human rights defender

The undersigned human rights organizations express our deep concern in relation to the judgment against Gladys Lanza, human rights defender in Honduras and coordinator of Women’s Movement for Peace Visitation Padilla. The judgment convicts Gladys of “libel constituting defamation” and sentences her to one year six months’ imprisonment. The judgment -delivered on 26 March 2015 by the First Chamber of the Sentencing Court of Tegucigalpa- also included as additional penalties the “special disqualification and civil interdiction”, resulting in the inability of Gladys Lanza to exercise civil rights.

The judgment is the result of a lawsuit filed by the director of the Foundation for the Development of Social, Urban and Rural Housing of Honduras -FUNDEVI- against Gladys Lanza, after she and her organization, provided accompaniment to a woman who claimed to have suffered labor and sexual harassment by the mentioned director.

This sentence is the latest in a series of obstacles that Gladys Lanza has faced in her work defending human rights in Honduras. In 2010 the Inter-American Court of Human Rights granted provisional measures in favor of the advocate, occasion in which the Court called on States to avoid actions that limit or hinder the work of human rights defenders. These measures were reiterated by the Court in June 2012.

Today, 29 April, the legal defense of Gladys Lanza is presenting an appeal (casación) before the Supreme Court. The appeal seeks the annulment of the judgment. The respect of the rights and freedoms of human rights defenders is a cornerstone for the enjoyment of the human rights of society as a whole. As a consequence, the Honduran State must ensure that the criminal proceedings against Gladys Lanza are not used as retaliation for her work as a human rights defender and must guarantee that she can continue, without risk and interferences, with her work for the respect of human rights in Honduras.

We urge the Honduran State to implement the recommendations that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights directed toward the American States to ensure that their authorities or third parties will not use the punitive power of the State and its justice institutions to harass human rights defenders in the legitimate exercise of their work.

Center for Justice and International Law

Just Associates

Amnesty International