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More than two and a half years after the killing of Honduran environmentalist activist Berta Cáceres, the alleged perpetrators of the crime finally sit on the dock.
But the relatives of the indigenous leader Lenca have denounced the judicial process as "a farce" which aims to guarantee the impunity of those responsible for his death.
Three hit men killed the life of Cáceres in the early morning of March 3rd. In 2016, a year after his efforts to avoid the construction of a dam in the northwest of the country, he was awarded the prestigious Goldman Award, "The Nobel Prize for the Environment"
. After numerous postponements, the oral trial against the first eight trial imputed for the trial finally began on October 20, the prosecution initiating the phase of "Evidence Evacuation"
A Door of the Honduran prosecution told BBC Mundo that the institution had enough evidence to prove the guilt of the defendant, among whom were also two ex-servicemen and two former employees of DESA, the company behind the project hydroelectric opposed by Cáceres
but which seems convinced that the trial will end under the same roof as the co-founder of COPINH, the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras. and with a verdict of guilt for the suspects, they also warn that this is not a guarantee of justice.
"There will undoubtedly be convictions, because it is in the interest of the state", told BBC Mundo Berta Zúñiga, a girls of the woman who has become the symbol of the dangers to which they are exposed. Environmental activists and human rights defenders have been exposed in this country of Central America.
"But will be frail phrases and the result of a superficial process that will not clear up what has actually happened," he added. , from Tegucigalpa.
The process in question
For Zúñiga, the greatest risk is not only that the possible convictions may be easily annulled in other cases, but that the legal action may also jeopardize the situation. future imputation of the true authors. intellectuals of murder.
And a recent and controversial judicial decision tending to remove from the process the legal representatives of the victims – the relatives of Cáceres and the defender of the environment The Mexican Gustavo Castro, wounded by a bullet during the attack, n & # This only increased the suspicion that the authorities did not want to get to the bottom of the case.
The decision was made by the court that pronounced the judgment after the pronouncement of the judgment. no private charges were presented at the beginning of the oral proceedings, stating that an amparo appeal actually disqualified the judges who compensate for "an abuse of authority, concealment, the denial and delay of justice and the violations of the duties of civil servants. "
And this is only the latest example of the many clashes between the victims and the various bodies of the Honduran judicial system, a country with impunity routinely denounced by international defense organizations.
- The prosecutor's office blamed the perpetrators of the crime on brothers Edilson and Emerson Duarte. , Óscar Arnaldo Tareas and Elvin Heriberto Rápalo, the alleged perpetrator of the shooting.
- As co-perpetrators of the murder are Sergio Ramón Rodríguez (manager of DESA), Douglas Geovanny Bustillo (former chief of security). DESA), Mariano Díaz (officer of the army) and Henry Javier Hernández
The clashes began since the same sentencing court did not want to admit COPINH – the organization headed by Cáceres – as one of the victims of his badbadination, and they once again presented themselves when they also denied permission to retransmit the live trial.
But the most violent clashes took place with the public prosecutor's office, which the victims were able to accuse, even criminally, of lack of diligence and discernment. to try to obstruct the justice of refuse to share information despite the express court orders (among others).
"Lack of transparency ncia"
Much of this information is potential evidence contained in material seized by the accused who, despite the time elapsed, was not badyzed by the public prosecutor, because "they were not used at the time of the crime" or "lack of necessary technology," said a spokesman for the institution.
"And everything can not be shared, because Article 5 of the Criminal Prosecution Act prohibits the sharing of information case that is still the subject of an investigation, so as not to compromise the integrity of the investigation, "says the manager, Yuri Mora.
Criticisms of the prosecutor's lack of cooperation are, however, one of the few coincidences among the lawyers of the victims and the legal representatives of the DESA.
Although for Robert Amsterdam the American lawyer hired by the Honduran society, more affected the defense.
"The injustices that were committed with the defense dwarf, all that happened to the victims," said the American criminal to BBC Mundo.
And, like this, Amsterdam is convinced that the judicial proceedings were conditioned by political pressure and that will end in guilty verdicts, but in his opinion unjust (at least in this respect). for former DESA employees).
"In the United States and NGOs are not interested in justice, they just want a head," said the company's attorney, who claimed that there is no had no evidence that the death of Cáceres was related to his opposition to the Agua Zarca Dam. 19659005] "Here, the community of international human rights defenders has completely given up on truly seeking the truth," complained Amsterdam, saying that many other explanations could explain the death of Cáceres.
And Marcia Aguiluz, director of the Center for Justice and International Law of the Center for Justice and International Law for Central America and Mexico, one of the many international organizations that oversee the United States. case closely, acknowledges that the main risk is that it became reality, but to protect investors and shareholders of DESA.
"There will be culprits, but there will be no justice or truth," he said about the process begun on October 20. 19659002] "We will know who pulled the trigger and who covered it, but not who paid (to kill Berta Cáceres)," he told BBC Mundo.
Limited attention
Víctor Fernández, the lawyer of the girls of Cáceres, accepts
and thinks that it is precisely to guarantee that the public prosecutor has insisted that the accusation is not focused that the day of the murder of the native ruler, refusing to take into account the broader context
"Reduce all day-to-day the event, it is reduce the truth and attack the right to justice because the plot goes beyond March 2, we must consider all of the above, threats, "according to Fernandez. "This is an approach that endangers the imputation of some of the true intellectual writers increasing the risk of impunity for some actors," he told BBC Mundo.
The charge however insists that the investigation is not over yet and ensures that "there are new people there. interest, the public prosecutor will publish the respective tax requirements ".
"Two police officers are watching because they are the ones who conducted the investigation and the prosecution found that they were falsifying certain audios," said the spokesman for the institution, Yuri Mora.
And the spokesman also recalled the arrest, and In March, Roberto David Castillo, executive president of DESA will eventually be the subject of a separate trial in as the alleged brain of the murder of Cáceres.
However, this does not convince the victims or organizations like CEJIL, which represented Cáceres when it ordered the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to order provisional measures in favor of the environmental activist before her murder.
"We do not feel represented by a public prosecutor Berta Zúñiga told BBC Mundo that" we have never watched over our interests, that we have denounced twice and that It does not even speak to us. "
" There is also no political will to guarantee complete justice, which has been expressed in a coordination of all instances of the judicial system for us. to separate from the process, "denounced the daughter of Berta Cáceres.
And for Marcia Aguiluz, CEJIL, conceal the main culprits can have consequences going beyond this particular case, in a country recognized as one of the most murderers for environmental activists.
" The murderers are replaceable ," he told the BBC Mundo. "But if intellectual writers do not badume their responsibilities, this type of situation will continue to recur to end ".
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