Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders Annual Report 2002 - Honduras

Assassination of a member of CODEH141

On 26th August 2002 Mr. Santos Callejas, treasurer of the Regional Direction of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights in Honduras (Directiva Regional del Comité para la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos en Honduras – CODEH) and co-ordinator of the bureau of defenders of children in the administration of the Municipality of Másica, Atlántida, was assassinated. Like many human rights defenders in Honduras, Mr. Callejas denounced the impunity of organised crime and the violations of economic and social rights by the large landowners. In 2001 he had worked with a group of 2,000 people who had invaded land that was the object of a dispute with the family of former President Azcona, claiming it to be theirs. Three days before being assassinated he had supplied information concerning members of a gang suspected of having assassinated a tourist in July 2002.

In a press release on 4th September 2002 the National Commissioner for Human Rights (Comisión Nacional de los Derechos Humanos – CONADEH), Dr. Ramón Custodio, denounced the impunity that applied to cases of extra-judicial executions in Honduras. He condemned the assassination of Mr. Callejas and the numerous threats and acts of harassment that members of CODEH are subjected to. On 9th July 2002, Mr. César Lazo, regional CODEH representative on the Atlantic seaboard, denounced publicly that he was the victim of persecution, and that the offices of the committee were watched. On 21st August 2002 the regional secretary of the Atlantic seaboard, and a member of the national governing body of CODEH, Mr. José Antonio Serrano Martínez, received personal threats for having denounced the illegal nature of the expropriation procedures carried out in the Bontillo sector, at la Ceiba, in order to make way for a residential complex. Mr. Callejas had himself survived an earlier attempt on his life two weeks previously.

After having checked that the post-mortem examination was not in order, CONADEH demanded that the body by exhumed, and publicly requested the Director of the National Preventive Police, the head of the General Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DGIC), and the Prosecutor for Human Rights in the Public Prosecutor's department, to take measures for the protection of the lives of the other members of CODEH, in particular Misters José Antonio Serrano and César Lazo and their families, and the witnesses in the cases mentioned. On 17th September 2002 Mr. Andrés Pavón, Director of CODEH, went to the Security Department in order to obtain information on the investigation. According to the first elements collected, the assassination was probably linked to the testimony given by Mr. Callejas in the case of the gang suspected of having assassinated a tourist.

The Bar Association in danger142

On 26th August 2002 the Observatory received from CODEH a special report on the situation of lawyers (men and women) accused of subversive activities against the government (Art. 328 of the Penal Code) and of lack of respect (Art. 345). Under these charges the lawyers are liable to a 12 years' prison sentence. This situation is the result of several months of confrontation. The Honduras Bar Association (Colegio de Abogados de Honduras – CAH) lodged a complaint for abuse of authority with the Public Prosecutor's department, claiming that the magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice had broken the law on the Notariat. The human rights NGOs denounced what they consider to be an attempt on the part of the authorities to muzzle the Bar Association, which spoke out on several occasions to denounce violations of Human Rights.


[Refworld note: This report as posted on the FIDH website (www.fidh.org) was in pdf format with country chapters run together by region. Footnote numbers have been retained here, so do not necessarily begin at 1.]

141. See urgent appeal HDN 001/0802/OBS 051.

142. See urgent appeal HDN 001/0802/OBS 051.

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