The eight members of the Municipal Committee for the Defence of Common and Public Assets (CMDBCP, in Spanish) continue in prison in Honduras after more than 19 months. Seven share the same cell in Olanchito prison, Yoro department (North), and one is being held in La Ceiba Penal Center, Atlántida department (North). The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention declared their detention as arbitrary and asked for their immediate release. We urge authorities to review the preventive detention of all eight defenders and take all necessary measures to immediately release them.
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Mr. Oscar Fernando Chinchilla
Attorney General
Posta Edificio Lomas Plaza II,
Col. Lomas del Guijarro,
Tegucigalpa, Honduras
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @MP_Honduras / @ofchb
Ambassador Luis Fernando Suazo Barahona
Embassy of Honduras
1220 19th Street, NW, Suite #320
Washington, DC 20036
Phone: 202 699 7702
Twitter: @EmbHondurasUSA @LuisFSuazo
Facebook: @EmbHondurasUSA
Salutation: Dear Ambassador
SAMPLE LETTER
Dear Attorney General,
I’m writing to express my deepest concern for the life and integrity of José Daniel Márquez Márquez, Kelvin Alejandro Romero Martínez, José Abelino Cedillo, Porfirio Sorto Cedillo, Orbín Nahúm Hernández, Arnold Javier Alemán, Ewer Alexander Cedillo Cruz and Jeremías Martínez Díaz, members of Municipal Committee for the Defence of Common and Public Assets (CMDBCP in Spanish) and defenders of the Guapinol river in Northern Honduras, who have been deprived of their liberty for over 19 months.
On February 9, 2021, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention declared that the detention of the eight imprisoned defenders is arbitrary and asked for their immediate release. Previously, United Nations human rights experts recommended all states to consider alternatives to imprisonment, to reduce risks of spreading COVID-19, particularly for persons in pretrial detention or detained without legal basis.
I urge you to immediately review the situation of the eight defenders who continue to be unfairly imprisoned for over 19 months, and to take all necessary measures to immediately release them, in compliance with the recommendations of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, and in order to guarantee their right to life, health, liberty, freedom of expression and right to defend human rights.
Sincerely,
[YOUR NAME]
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