COPINH
Berta CáceresCausa Berta CáceresComunicadosEnglish

David Castillo seeks to evade the judicial process for the murder of Berta Cáceres

COPINH

AQUI en español

The Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH), the legal team and the Berta Cáceres’ family make the following statement:

  1. There is an imminent danger of escape on the part of Mr. David Castillo due to the filing of two habeas corpus appeals promoted by his legal defense and the organization JOPRODEH.
  2. These appeals seek to release him in violation of Honduran and international legal standards.
  3. Mr. David Castillo is legally deprived of his liberty for the murder of our sister Berta Cáceres, since his arrest on March 2, 2018, at the San Pedro Sula airport while attempting to escape.
  4. Chamber I of the Court of Judgment has declared that Mr. Castillo’s preventive detention expires on May 25, 2021.
  5. The existing evidence is enough to convict Mr. David Castillo due to his complicity within the criminal structure that murdered Berta Cáceres, in alliance with accomplices from extractive companies, government authorities and the international financial system.

Therefore

  • We demand that the judges in charge of resolving the Habeas Corpus appeals declare them without merit for being notoriously unfounded.
  • We hold the Judiciary responsible for the consequences of a possible escape derived from the illegal release of Mr. David Castillo.
  • We request the support of the Honduran people and the International Community in the struggle for the construction of a justice system that is not afraid to pursue criminals with high economic power.
  • We ask for the accompaniment of Honduran people and the International Community to guarantee the victims’ rights to truth, justice, and measures of non-repetition to prevent the defense of indigenous territories and communities from costing the lives of people like Berta Cáceres.

“They believed that impunity is eternal. They are wrong, the people know how to do justice” -Berta Cáceres

City of La Esperanza, October 1, 2020

“With the ancestral strength of Berta, Lempira, Mota, Iselaca and Etempica we raise our voices full of life, justice, freedom, dignity and peace”.

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