18 de June de 2018 Press Release

After one year of the murder of Berta Cáceres, a transparent and diligent investigation is required

San José, March 1, 2017.- One year after Berta Cáceres Flores, human rights defender was murdered in her home, in La Esperanza, Intibucá, from CEJIL we alert of the deficiencies that the investigation process has experienced up until now.

 

In response to her assassination, we join the demands of the family of Berta Cáceres and the Civic Council of Popular Organizations of Honduras (COPINH) to the State, to ensure a diligent investigation, done with transparency, independently and according to the highest international standards. These conditions, necessary for the identification, prosecution, and punishment of those responsible, both material and intellectual, have not been yet fulfilled.

 

While maintaining absolute secrecy regarding the progress of the investigation, the Public Prosecutor’s Office (PPO) has refused to respond to the petitions of diverse national and international organs – including the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights- to guarantee transparency in the process. This has been done, in violation of Honduran legislation itself, which guarantees the participation of the victims in the process. Over and over, the relatives of Berta Cáceres and the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH) have realized about some of the results of the investigation through the media, which revictimizes them and violates their rights.

 

Although the PPO has captured eight people to date, there is no certainty of the alleged role played by each one of the accused of the criminal act. There are also no results about the intellectual authors of the murder of Berta Cáceres, which occurred on March 2, 2016. This crime was the product of an escalation of violence, criminalization, and stigmatization against the leader and the members of COPINH, reason why it is essential that these events can be considered as legal background when investigating and understanding the context of risk in which Berta Cáceres did her work.

 

It is also alarming and inexplicable that, despite the indications that the murder of Berta Cáceres may have been motivated by her protests against the construction of the Agua Zarca project, the concession of the project to the company DESA remains intact, without the State promoting actions to revoke it.

 

Due to this lack of will and in the face of the State’s negligence, the International Expert Persons Advisory Group (GAIPE) was created in an advocacy effort for truth seeking. From CEJIL we reiterate our commitment to support this initiative and we demand the State to ensure a free environment so that the Group can meet its objectives and progress towards justice for Berta Cáceres, her family, COPINH and the entire Honduran society.

 

According to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and Michel Forst, the Special Rapporteur of the United Nations on the situation of human rights defenders, Honduras is the most dangerous country to defend human rights. The international organization Global Witness (see report) recently denounced that, between 2010 and 2016, 123 people were killed while claiming their right to defend human rights. Despite this reality, the State continues to stigmatize human rights defenders, and the insufficient protection measures implemented do not allow the creation of a secure environment to guarantee the exercise of their work.

 

Lastly, we want to stress the importance of the Honduran State fulfilling its duty and meeting the demands of the family of Berta Cáceres and COPINH and we demand that it fulfill its obligation to protect those who assume this role. Otherwise, it puts at risk not only the lives of these people but also weakens life in a democracy.