Saturday 3 October 2009

38 Peasants Accused of sedition for defending the Constitution - Demand their release

URGENT ACTION! FOR THEIR IMMEDIATE AND UNCONDITIONAL RELEASE!


The 38 have gone on hunger strike, they have accused falsely of sedition, and under the de facto Miceheletti dictatorship they have no fair chance of defending themselves. Given that all actions of the coup regime are by definition illegal, their defence of the legitimate President and protection of INA premises were lawful activities.

Details are below of emails of members of the Honduras Supreme Court of Justice who you should write to demanding the detainees release.


1.- Jorge Rivera Avilés (presidencia@poderjudicial.gob.hn)
2. Raúl Antonio Henríquez (rhenriquez@poderjudicial.gob.hn)
3. Jacobo Calix Hernández (jcalixh@poderjudicial.gob.hn)
4. Carlos David Calix Vallecillo (ccalix@poderjudicial.gob.hn)
5. Oscar Fernando Chinchilla (ochinchilla@poderjudicial.gob.hn)
6. José Francisco Ruiz (jruiz@poderjudicial.gob.hn)
7. Gustavo Enrique Bustillo (gebustillo@poderjudicial.gob.hn)
9. José Antonio Gutiérrez Navas (jagutierrez@poderjudicial.gob.hn)
10. Víctor Manuel Martínez Silva (vmmartinez@poderjudicial.gob.hn)
11. Edith María López Rivera (emlopez@poderjudicial.gob.hn)
12. Tomas Arita Valle (tarita@poderjudicial.gob.hn)
13. Marco Vinicio Zúñiga Medrano (mvzuniga@poderjudicial.gob.hn)
14. Jorge Reyes Díaz (jreyesd@poderjudicial.gob.hn)
15. Rosa de Lourdes Paz (rpaz@poderjudicial.gob.hn)

Detainees at the National Agrarian Institute await a preliminary hearing. 38 men imprisoned since September 30 in a cell of 15 square meters

by Giorgio Trucchi Rel-IUF 


On September 30 an operation by the police and the army evicted 55 people who at that time were guarding the premises of the National Agrarian Institute (INA) in Tegucigalpa. This institution had been occvupied in protest against the coup, for various peasants' organizations with the support of the Union of Workers of the National Agrarian Institute (SITRAINA), an affiliate of UITA (Uniting Food, Farm and Hotel Workers World Wide). Now this action to defend legality is being criminalized by the country's judiciary.
"Inhumane" is the more appropriate term to describe the conditions in which 38 people belonging to the three major peasant confederations in the country (COCOCH, CHMC and CNC), found themselves being locked up for 48 hours in a small cell of 15 m² in the Metropolitan Police Headquarters No. 1, better known as Regional Command 7 (CORE-7) in Tegucigalpa.

Sirel had exclusive access to the police facility through the efforts of the Committee of Relatives of Detained and Disappeared in Honduras (COFADEH) and was able to talk to the detainees before they were transferred at the National Penitentiary (PN), located in Tamara.

"We're being unfairly accused of the crime of sedition, which "we have not committed and so we declare ourselves political prisoners. As of noon yesterday, October 1, we have begun a hunger strike, drinking only liquid. Perhaps in this way are we going to get justice, "said Adalberto Ramon Diaz, one of the 38 detainees who was chosen as spokesman for the group.

We are in inhumane conditions, crammed together and in complete darkness. We have no electricity, there are only two toilets and we are sleeping on the floor. We have 48 hours of being unable to wash and the heat is stifling.

Today we were visited the International Red Cross, Diaz went on- and we gave them a petition to request the head of the Police Station that somehow allows us to take a bath."

The only filtered air is through a small window and two holes which can be manually opened on the concrete ceiling. The main door of the cell, whose gates were recently painted give off an unpleasant solvent odour.

"At the first hearing the judge did not act with impartiality. We are being denied conditional freedom and we remained detained for six days waiting for the preliminary hearing.

We have already organized. Formed different committees such as Discipline, Food, Health & Press. He also elected a general coordinator, Comrade Cruz Leonel Padilla.

Our resistance will be historical -Adalberto Ramon Diazconcluded- and we ask the world to help us through solidarity, making known what is happening to us and so that justice prevails."

In his proclamation, the inmates called for their physical integrity, that Decree 18/2008 is complied with, the return of the constitutional order in the country and be assured a fair trial in accordance with the law.

Just hours before being transferred to the National Penitentiary in Tamara, a decision was taken following the demand of Commissioner Flores, who considered inadequate the structure of CORE-7 to accommodate such a large group of people; the detainees asked to be seen by a physician, since many of them suffer from various ailments

For the remaining 17 people arrested in the premises of the INA, 13 of them, six women, two children and five adults-, were granted conditionla freedom under the protection of COFADEH, whereas the four members of SITRAINA were order to be released.

Luis Santos Madrid, SITRAINA general secretary, said that they are taking the necessary measures so that no reprisals are taken against its members.

Names of peasant detained and their places of origin

♦ Roberto Reyes López (59 años), Yoro
♦ Ramón Gómez Núñez (54 años), El Progreso, Yoro
♦ Edmundo Flores (58 años), Tocoa, Colón
♦ José Modesto Bautista (49 años), El Progreso, Yoro
♦ Benedicto Emérito Flores Rodríguez (48 años), Morocelí, El Paraíso
♦ Santos Lemus (39 años), Tocoa, Colón
♦ José Antonio Fonseca Martínez (29 años), Morocelí, El Paraíso
♦ Nicolás García Martínez (48 años), Villa de San Antonio
♦ Adry Laínez Ramírez (25 años), Potrerillos, Cortés
♦ Jesús Portillo Amaya (46 años), Potrerillos, Cortés
♦ Juan Ernesto Cabrera Sarmiento (18 años), Potrerillos, Cortés
♦ José Irene Murillo (69 años), Río Bijao, Choloma, Cortés
♦ Carlos Roberto Santos López (25 años), San Nicolás, Santa Bárbara
 ♦ Luis Gustavo López (19 años), Comayagua
♦ Pedro Alberto Serrano García (20 años), departament de Atlántida
♦ Fredy Adán Aguilar Hernández (29 años), Potrerillos, Cortés
♦ Santos Israel Rodríguez (39 años), Valle de San Francisco
♦ Jorge Luis Enamorado (22 años), Tocoa, Colón
♦ José Alejandro Benítez (57 años), Las Flores, Comayagua
♦ Justino Cruz García (57 años), Tocoa, Colón
♦ Fernando Magdiel García Moreno (22 años), colonia Palermo, El Progreso
♦ Darwing Alexander Padilla Sánchez (23 años), colonia Río de Piedras, Cortés
♦ Santos Lemus (39 años), Tocoa, Colón
♦ Santanito Pérez Cárcamo (50 años), Bonito Oriental, Colón
♦ José Adaliel Colindres Rodríguez (27 años), San Antonio de Oriente, Francisco Morazán
♦ Venturas Santos Colindres Rodríguez (28 años) cooperative Montes de Maraita
♦ Justo Cruz Padilla (41 años), Tocoa, Colón
♦ Marcos Nicolás (47 años), Comayagua
♦ José Marcos López (40 años), San Jerónimo, Comayagua
♦ Fausto René Matute Banegas (49 años), El Progreso, Yoro
♦ Ramón Adalberto Díaz (43 años), Barrio La Concordia
♦ Osman Obeniel Díaz Mejía (29 años), Lomas del Carmen, San Pedro Sula, Cortés
♦ Wilfredo Padilla Santos (47 años), Tocoa, Colón
♦ Demetrio Martínez Ávila (59 años), El Chagüite, San Antonio de Oriente, Francisco Morazán
♦ Gustavo Adolfo Matamoros Ruiz (39 años), Santa Rita de Yoro
♦ Gerson Adolfo Fajardo Chavarría (24 años) San Manuel, Cortés
♦ Leocadio Aguilar Hernández (56 años), Comayagua
♦ Carlos Humberto Rodríguez Andino (50 años), El Zamorano
♦ Pedro Cárcamo (52 años), Tocoa, Colónv
Posted by Emergency Committee Against the Coup in Honduras at 21:34