Urgent Action Against Illegal Detention and Tortures
SABADO 03 DE JULIO DE 2010 00:25 COFADEH
The Committee of Relatives of Detained and Disappeared in Honduras (Cofadeh), expresses its total repudiation and preoccupation by the illegal detention followed by tortures that Edwin Spinal R�belo was subject to at the hands of agents of the Preventive National Police.
The 30th of June at 11:30 p.m. Edwin Spinal Rïobelo was in his neighbourhood, La Flor del Campo, Tegucigalpa, when five policemen from the police station of Flor del Campo, headed by the agent Vargas arrived asking Edwin for his driving license. Edwin responded by showing his identity card, which was the document he was required to carry because he was not driving and therefore did not need to demonstrate his driving license. Immediately they began to beat him and agent Vargas sprayed him in the eyes with pepper spray and applied an electric baton to different parts of the body, especially the legs and ears.
He was then forced to board a patrol vehicle in which they drove in erratic directions in different streets for 45 minutes, during the journey they threatened him by saying that he was a communist, a Zelayista and "to abandon that shit of the Resistencia", after threatening him and taking pictures, he was transferred to the Cuarta Police Station; before being lowered from the patrol vehicle he was pushed with the intention of causing him to lose his balance and fall, the police also repeatedly sprayed pepper spray and proceeded to put him in a cell. When they applied the pepper spray, a police officer said that the gas would kill all civilians - Edwin lost his young wife, Wendy Elizabeth Avila of pulmonary congestion after breathing pepper spray on 22 September 2009 during the repression and suspension of constitutional guarantees. At the police station he was informed that he was detained for being for drunk and disorderly. Edwin R�belo does not drink alcohol. He was released at 10:30 a.m. on July 1, 2010 through the intervention of the Coordinator of Cofadeh.
Request
COFADEH makes a call to national and international community to:
Demand that the Honduran authorities guarantee the safety of Edwin R�belo Espinal Young, to carry out a prompt, thorough and impartial investigation into the acts of intimidation, illegal arrests and torture that violate fundamental human rights of Edwin R�belo, to make public the results and bring those responsible for these acts to justice.
Ensure the safety of all people exercising their right to association and free expression.
Direct their communications to the following authorities:
Jorge Alberto Rivera Avilas
Presidente de la Corte Suprema de Justicia
Tel (504) 269-3000 269-3069
Mail: cedij@poderjudicial.gob.hn
Luis Alberto Rub�
Fiscal General de la Rep�blica.
Fax (504) 221-5667
Tel (504) 221-5670 221-3099
Mail: lrubi@mp.hn
suazog@mp.hn
Background:
Edwin Riobelo Espinal has been the subject of multiple captures since the military coup, all following the same pattern of abuse. On November 14, 2009, was arrested by police during the vehicle convoy of the Resistencia de Colonia San Miguel de Tegucigalpa, on this occasion, the police, without reason began beating and arresting demonstrators that had remained at the end of the convoy; as Edwin asked for what reason they were being abused, eight officers took him by the shirt and handcuffed him putting him in the patrol vehicle. He was driven along with another protester to the Cuarta Police Station where they were accused of spray painting walls with slogans of the Resistencia. The young man who was also arrested could not read or write. He remained detained for six hours, during which time he was threatened with charges of sedition.
Edwin has also received several threatening calls on his cell phone which usually occur at nightime.
On October 7, 2009, he was attacked with rubber bullets while participating in a demonstration outside the U.S. Embassy in Tegucigalpa. On February 25, 2010, police took photographs of the license plates of his car while he attended a demonstration of the Resistencia. In the first week of April 2010, the police threatened motorcyclists of the Resistencia, Los Patriotas, of which Edwin forms part of, that if they went out on motorcycles they would be repressed and during the march they took photographs of the motorcycle license plates that were parked in the parking lot of the STIBYS. The marches continued Los Patriotas continued supporting with their motorcycles.
On 10 April, after the march, Edwin gave his motorcycle and helmets Ebenor Gerson Vilchez and his girlfriend. In Comayag�ela City, between the Second and Fourth Street, an unknown vehicle struck the motorcycle that Gerson was driving. Due to the severity of the injuries he died 40 minutes later.
The Committee of Families of the Detained and Disappeared of Honduras (COFADEH) denounce the illegal overnight detention by police of nine minors associated with the resistence movement
July 2, 2010
The Committee of Families of the Detained and Disappeared of Honduras (COFADEH) denounce the illegal overnight detention by police of nine minors associated with the resistence movement
Nine males between the ages of 12 and 17 were detained yesterday afternoon and held in jail overnight in a facility unsuitable for minors, without the notification of their parents/guardians or the Honduran Institute for Chidren and Families (INHFA). They were not charged with any criminal offense and were released at approximately 12:00 noon today after a visit by a COFADEH lawyer who petitioned for their release for several hours. These youth are reported to have participated in at least one march of the resistence movement, as part of a group of young people organizing educational activities encouraging reflection upon the political and social realities currently being experienced in Honduras. COFADEH is manifesting grave concern to the national and international human rights community in the face of the continued criminilization and repression of young people and members of the Resistence in Honduras by state forces, such as the police, since the coup d�etat on June 28, 2009, repression which has continued in a targetted, violent manner under the government of President Porfirio Lobo in 2010. Their testimony is below.
TESTIMONY
We, the undersigned [names are ommitted to protect the victims� identities as minors], who are minors, Honduran, and residents of the Sanai neighbourhood of Comayag�ela, freely and of our own volition appear before the Committee of Families of the Detained and Disappeared in Honduras (COFADEH) and offer the following testimony.
FIRST: Yesterday the 1st of July between 3:30 and 4:00 PM we were in the Sina� neighbourhood in the house of our friend Jankel Alejandro, where we were having a meeting and celebration related to our school, where various Preventative Police officers arrived in patrol vehicles marked No. 103 and 109 and forced the lock of the house and entered without presenting any kind of warrant. They proceded to search us even though we weren�t carrying anything that illegal, they handcuffed our wrists with our shoelaces and loaded us onto their patrol trucks, taking us in the direction of the 5th precinct which is located in the Granja neighbourhood.
SECOND: When we arrived at the above mentioned precinct they ordered us to get down from the trucks, as they watched us get down they proceeded to hit us one by one. We were in that precinct for about 10 minutes then they moved us to the 4th precinct which is in the Bel�n neighbourhood, they took us to the jail cell there where we were detained for approximately eight hours.
THIRD: We hereby authorize COFADEH to carry out any follow-up actions that they consider to be necessary.
For the record, we sign this testimony in the city of Tegucigalpa, Municipality of the Central District, on the 2nd day of July, 2010. [Signatures on the original document]
Comit� de Familiares de Detenidos Desaparecidos en Honduras
C O F A D E H
Barrio La Plazuela, Ave. Cervantes, Casa No. 1301. Apdo. Postal No. 1243, Tegucigalpa, M.D.C., Honduras, C.A.
Tel/Fax (504) 220-5280 / 220-7147 E-Mail: cofadeh@sdnhon.org.hn Sitio Web: www.cofadeh.org