Honduras: Prisoners of Conscience forced to endure 28-month pre-detention

[Tilly lavenas]

Dear Friends

Please send this letter or in your own words about eight men who are trying to defend the water supplies in their community. Seventeen land and environmental activists were killed in 2020 in Honduras. You can read more about the Guapinol defenders in this recent Global Witness article—https://bit.ly/3GMlxpi  Thanks! Tilly & Guy

Mr. Oscar Fernando Chinchilla
Attorney General
Edificio Lomas Plaza II
Col. Lomas del Guijarro
Tegucigalpa,
Honduras
Email: fiscaliag...@gmail.com

Dear Attorney General,

I am deeply concerned about the eight prisoners of conscience who have been in pre-trial detention for 28 months for opposing an iron-ore mine in Tocoa, which endangers their water supplies. I believe the charges against José Daniel Márquez, Kelvin Alejandro Romero, José Abelino Cedillo, Porfirio Sorto Cedillo, Ewer Alexander Cedillo, Orbin Nahún Hernández, Arnol Javier Alemán and Jeremías Martínez Díaz are spurious.  

It has been widely reported that throughout the judicial process, the Guapinol defenders have faced a lack of due process, the constant cancellation and rescheduling of hearings and the unfounded extension of their pre-trial detention. 

I urge you to immediately drop the charges and unconditionally release them, in compliance with the recommendations of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.

I look forward to hearing from you about this distressing case.

Yours sincerely

Please send a copy to the ambassador in your country:
HE Mr Ivan Romero-Martinez
Embassy of Honduras
4th Floor 136 Baker Street W1U 6UD
hondu...@lineone.net

honduras...@gmail.com

HE Mr. Luis Fernando Suazo Barahono
Embassy of Honduras
1220 19th Street, NW
Washington, DC NW 20036
emb...@hondurasemb.org

For more information about Amnesty’s Urgent Action UA 3/22, 14 January 2022,
https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/amr37/5165/2022/en/