Sr.Juan Orlando Hernández
President of Honduras
Sr. Oscar Chinchilla Banegas
Attorney General of Honduras
Dear Sirs:
We are very disturbed by the death threats to human rights defender Jorge Jiménez, who works for the nongovernmental organization CODEH (Committee for the Defense of Human Rights in Honduras). On August 8 he received a letter that warned him to cut all ties to his human rights work within the next 24 hours or face death. The letter warned him “the ones who paid us to kill you are demanding results this will hurt your family.” The letter also threatens to hurt Andrés Pavón, the former President of CODEH and the current Honduran Ambassador to Cuba. We are especially concerned that the letter repeatedly mentions that Jorge Jiménez is unprotected at his home and while he travels outside of work hours. This is in contradiction to the precautionary measures that he and his family should be receiving as ordered by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (order #MC-95-10).
Jorge Jiménez was threatened by national riot police on July 1. On the morning of July 1 Honduran riot police (“Cobras”) arrested at least 12 students when hundreds occupied the building of the National Autonomous University of Honduras (UNAH) in Tegucigalpa to protest the privatization of universities across the country. To perform his monitoring duties on behalf of CODEH, Jorge Jiménez entered the campus later that day to visit the students detained on the premises. When he saw that a contingent of Cobras guarding the place where the students were detained, he identified himself to the deputy commander (sub-comisario) to obtain access. The deputy commander replied, “I don’t care about human rights, I am going to kill you if you keep defending these vagabonds, for me what matters is this” and he pointed to his police insignia. He took photographs and pushed Jorge Jiménez.
Jorge Jiménez has received death threats against himself and his family since 2013. In January 2014, there was an assassination attempt against him when a car attempted to run him over as he walked in the surroundings of the Emilio Larach Stadium.
We condemn the death threats against Jorge Jiménez, his family, and other human rights defenders associated with CODEH. We strongly urge that you
carry out an immediate, thorough and impartial investigation into the death threats and assassination attempt against him and his family, publish the results, and bring those responsible to justice
take all necessary measures to guarantee the safety and security of Jorge Jiménez and his family, including the full implementation of precautionary measures MC-95-10
guarantee in all circumstances that all human rights defenders are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of reprisals and free of all restrictions.
Sincerely,
Brian J. Stefan Szittai and Christine Stonebraker-Martínez
Co-Coordinators
