Attacks and Threats Remain a Very Serious Concern
In the aftermath of Honduras’s 2009 coup, security forces under the de facto government beat demonstrators, detained people arbitrarily, and shut down media outlets.
Since the inauguration in January of President Porfirio Lobo, who was elected after the coup, at least 47 journalists, human rights defenders, and political activists have been threatened or attacked -- 18 of them killed. Circumstantial evidence in most of these cases suggest that victims were targeted because of their political views.
No one has been held accountable for these acts, nor for what happened in the coup’s aftermath.
Court cases concerning crimes committed after the coup have been stalled – in part because various state agencies won’t cooperate with Honduras’s human rights unit. Security forces have failed to turn over firearms for ballistics tests and ignored requests to identify officers accused of crimes. Investigations into the officers’ actions lack independence.
The Supreme Court endorsed the military’s actions during the coup and fired four judges who questioned the coup’s legality, creating a climate that discouraged lower-court judges from ruling against the de facto government.
Until Honduran authorities take concrete steps to hold people accountable for past actions and to stop the attacks, it will be difficult to restore trust in the country’s democratic system.
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