Supporters asked to provide prayer support
as trial begins for alleged killers of
ASJ lawyer Dionisio Díaz García
Tegucigalpa, Honduras - The trial of two men arrested for the assassination of Dionisio Diaz Garcia will begin on Febrary 18, 2009 and is expected to last for one week. Mr. Diaz Garcia, a lawyer with the Honduran Association for a More Just Society, was was on his way to Court on December 4, 2006 when he was shot and killed by two men on a motorcycle.
Ever since the broad daylight murder on a busy street, Honduran officials have been facing intense international pressure to locate and prosecute the killers, as well as those who financed the assassination. The killing is believed to connected to work Mr. Diaz Garcia was doing on behalf of mistreated employees with a private security firm.
TRIAL BEGINS -- REPORT FROM ASJ
REPORT 2 - After a short lunch break, the trial resumed yesterday afternoon. Key pieces of evidence were revealed from a search from suspect Cesar Daniel Amador's house yesterday:
- an ID card showing him as a SETECH security company employee, a CD, and a diskette with "SETECH" written on them;
- a piece of paper with Dionisio's name, ASJ's name and address, and the name of the other suspect, Ramon Solis, written on it.
This morning, both the prosecution and the defense will continue presenting witnesses, including eye witnesses present at the scene of the crime.
I am off to court now to continue following the proceedings! Today, Revistazo.com, the AJS-supported online alternative news source will be outside the courthouse, continuing to cover the trial that has already caught the attention of several media who broadcasted reports of the trial last night
REPORT 1 - I spent all morning sitting in on the beginning of the trial against AJS-supported lawyer Dionisio's accused killers. I have to get back to the courtroom in about half an hour (the judges are on lunch break right now-but I just wanted to give you a quick update.
One of the first things that happened this morning inside the courtroom was that the defense proposed several more witnesses. One is a police detective who was involved in the early stages of investigation of the case, and who the police dept. itself pulled off the investigation because he seemed to be committing irregularities and not contributing much to the investigation. We shall how the defense hopes to use his testimony to their advantage. Another witness is a person who claims to have been with one of the accused in another location at the time of the murder.
After that, various experts (forensic medical examiner, crime scene examiner, etc.) were called to read and corroborate reports they had already written up. One of the last witnesses called to the stand before lunch was ASJ-Honduras board president Carlos Hernández, who narrated the series of threats that led up to Dionisio's murder, and recounted how several days after the murder he, too, was followed by two men on a motorcycle and received a death threat.
The courtroom was filled nearly to capacity, with many friends and several foreign diplomats present. Outside the courtroom, AJS project staff and supporters held a peaceful manifestation, displaying signs calling for "justice for the lawyer of the poor." Several TV news reporters showed up and interviewed ASJ leadership about the case.
The trial is set to run at least through Monday-I´ll continue to send you more updates as it progresses.
Abram Huyser Honig
Communications Coordinator
Association for a More Just Society (AJS)
As the trial begins, the Carpenteros ask you to remember the following prayer requests:
• Thank God that we have arrived at the point where suspects have been arrested and are being brought to trial--the vast majority of murder cases in Honduras never get that far!
• Ask God to give the prosecutors assigned to the case the courage, wisdom, and clarity to present the case against the hit-men clearly and convincingly.
• Ask God to give the tribunal of three judges who will decide on the case the courage and wisdom to make a just decision.
• Ask God that this trial may strengthen the Honduran justice system and peoples' confidence in it
• Ask God to keep Dionisio's widow Lourdes and son Mauricio, and ASJ staff and leadership, safe.
• Pray for peace, comfort, clarity and protection for ASJ Honduras President Carlos Hernandez who will be called to testify.
• Ask God to work a change in the murderous hearts of the hit-men and the people who hired them.
LEARN MORE - WATCH THE YOUTUBE VIDEO
READ KURT VER BEEK'S TRIBUTE TO DIONISIO
In the past several months, a number of people in the northern Honduras community of Cofrada have been killed as a result of a dispute over land ownership. Please also remember the following requests in prayer:
• Ask God to enable ASJ investigators and lawyers and the Honduran police detectives and prosecutors they are working with to track down the people who planned and carried out the murders of community leaders who were working to help their neighbors get land titles.
• Ask that God would move government officials to carry out the titling process in an efficient and transparent manner so that poor families can be certain of their ownership of land and so that false "landowners" will no longer be able to fraudulently grab or sell land or force people off the land.
• Thank God for opening many doors to ASJ and Cofradía community leaders, including meetings with the World Bank (which funds the titing process), the Vice President of Honduras, and several high-level law enforcement officials.
WATCH THE VIDEO "LAND RIGHTS MURDERS IN NORTHERN HONDURAS"
TWO ACCUSED KILLERS ARRESTED
On January 31, 2008, Ramón Eusebio Solís Zelaya, an employee of a private security company, was arrested in the coastal city of La Ceiba charged with being a material participant in Díaz's murder. César Daniel Amador Estrada, an active-duty agent of the investigative police (DGIC) was arrested in Tegucigalpa at the same time on charges of being a co-participant in the same crime.
The following day, February 1, police searched the offices of the private security that Mr. Solís worked for. Dionisio had represented several employees and ex-employees of this company in labor cases before his death.
On Tuesday, February 5, 2008, in an initial hearing a judge ordered that two suspects be held in custody for the duration of their trial. AJS urges the Honduran government to take care to ensure both that these men do not escape from prison and that they are protected against potential assassination attempts while in custody.
Worldwide advocacy has played a key role
For several months preceding his murder he and other members of AJS's Honduran sister organization, Asociación para una Sociedad más Justa (ASJ), had been receiving threats related to labor cases on behalf of security guards. Similar threats continued throughout much of 2007. During that same time, official investigations of the assassination made little headway and were plagued by incompetence, negligence, and possibly corruption.
But a renewed surge of worldwide pressure this past December, fueled by supporters of AJS, Amnesty International, and other organizations who sent thousands of letters and emails to Honduran authorities, as well as the intervention of foreign legislators and diplomats, played a large part in motivating top-level Honduran authorities to put renewed emphasis on the case.
The two men arrested yesterday are accused of being the driver of the motorcycle and the passenger / shooter responsible for the assassination.
AJS urges Honduran authorities to identify and arrest crime's intellectual authors
AJS commends the Honduran government for making progress in this case and for apparently having corrected some of the irregularities in the management of the investigation. At the same time, AJS urges the Honduran authorities to continue proceeding energetically and according to the law in a process that is just beginning—the men arrested yesterday have yet to be tried, and, in the case of a guilty verdict, sentenced; the intellectual authors of the crime (those who planned it and who are assumed to have paid the hit-men for their work) have yet to be identified and arrested.
AJS urges supporters to keep speaking out
There is still a long way to go in order to achieve justice for Dionisio. The men arrested today need to be brought to trial. The people who paid them to kill Dionisio need to be identified, arrested, and brought to trial. There is still a real possibility that corruption could sneak in and spoil it all.
To make sure the big step towards justice taken yesterday is followed by many more, AJS asks all those who care about this case to do the following:
• Pray: Thank God that progress is being made and ask for God's blessing on those working for more progress towards justice for Dionisio.
• Speak Out: Write Honduran authorities to congratulate them for this achievement, and to let them know much more still needs to be done.
• Tell Others: Tell others about Dionisio and get them to start speaking out. A great place to start is by having them watch the Dionisio Video at:
http://www.ajs-us.org/dionisio/dionisio_video.htm
or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ro7ugBbxNgg
• Donate: Donate to AJS or to other organizations advocating for justice for Dionisio.
Get help doing all of this and learn more at:
