Urgent Action
UA: 360/11
Index: AMR 37/008/2011
Issue Date: 13 December 2011
PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 24 JANUARY 2012.
Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date.
On 5 December, two members of the human rights organisation CODEH
were threatened by an unknown man in central Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
On 5 December, at approximately 7:15pm, human rights activists Andres
Pavón and Cesar Adin Barraza stopped their pickup truck at a
drive-through bank in the centre of Tegucigalpa. A blue pickup truck
pulled up close to them, and the driver got out and approached their
vehicle. The man asked the passengers in the back of the truck if Andres
Pavón was inside. He then tapped the window of the vehicle on the side
where Andres Pavón was sitting. The man said to Andres Pavón, “You are
gangsters, you defend criminals […] You think you can go unpunished but
you know well what happened to La Tribuna“ (“Ustedes son delincuentes,
defienden a los criminales […] Ustedes se la tiran de impunes y bien se
dan cuenta de lo que sucedió a La Tribuna”). [Referring to recently
reported attacks on staff members of the newspaper La Tribuna].
The man also threatened Cesar Adin Barraza, who works alongside Andres Pavón in the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights in Honduras’ (Comité para la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos en Honduras, CODEH). He said, “I know you already, if I see you again I´m going to lynch you” (“Ya te conozco, donde te vea te voy a linchar”). The man got back in his pickup truck and left the scene only when a security guard intervened and blocked his vehicle.
Andres Pavón is a beneficiary of Precautionary Measures (PC 196/09) granted by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in 2009 to safeguard his security. The order has not been fully implemented to date, even though he was provided with a phone number he could call in case of an emergency, when he dialled it, on this occasion it was not manned.
Please write immediately in Spanish or your own language:
- Calling for an independent, thorough and impartial investigation
into the incident and the threats against Andres Pavón and Cesar Adin
Barraza, with the results made public and those responsible brought to
justice;
- Urging that the authorities take immediate steps to fully comply
with the IACHR order of 28 June 2009. The form of protection provided to
Andres Pavón must be agreed with him and reflect his own wishes;
- Reminding the authorities that human rights defenders have a right
to carry out their activities without any unfair restrictions or fear of
reprisals, as set out in the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders.
PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 24 JANUARY 2012 TO:
Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date.
Attorney General
Sr. Luis Alberto Rubí
Fiscal General de la República
Lomas del Guijarro, Avenida República Dominicana, Edificio Lomas Plaza II
Tegucigalpa,
Honduras
Fax: +504 2221 5667
Salutation: Sr. Fiscal General/ Dear Attorney General
Minister for Justice and Human Rights
Ana Pineda
Ministra de Justicia y Derechos Humanos
Col. Lomas del Mayab,
Ave. República de Costa Rica,
Entre BAC-BAMER y BANHCAFE
Tegucigalpa MDC
Fax: +504 2235 8379
Email: info sjdh.gob.hn
Salutation: Estimada Sra. Ministra/ Dear Minister
And copies to:
Comité para la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos en Honduras (CODEH)
Apartado Postal no.3189
Tegucigalpa, MDC
Honduras
E-mail: codeh codeh.hn
Also send copies to diplomatic representatives accredited to your country.
Ambassade de la République du Honduras
Avenue des Gaulois 3
1040 Bruxelles
eMail: honduras telenet.be
Fax 02.735.26.26
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Human rights defenders and journalists are frequently threatened, harassed and physically attacked as they carried out their work in Honduras. CODEH is one of Honduras’s main human rights organizations, and has been heavily involved in efforts to document and report human rights violations both in the context of the 28 June 2009 coup d’état which deposed President José Manuel Zelaya, and during the administration of President Porfirio Lobo, who took office on 27 January 2010 following elections in November 2009. Many of the cases investigated by CODEH allege the involvement of state security forces in human rights abuses.
Name: Andres Pavón and Cesar Adin Barraza
Gender m/f: Both male
UA: 360/11
Index: AMR 37/008/2011
Issue Date: 13 December 2011
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