Ruling on Monday July 5 in the trial of David Castillo for the murder of Lenca environmental defender Berta Cáceres

Outside the courthouse in Tegucigalpa, April 29.

On July 2, PBI-Honduras tweeted: “The ruling in the trial of David Castillo, accused of the murder of #BertaCáceres, [will be] next Monday, July 5.”

This follows the tweet from the Judicial Power of Honduras (CSJ) that stated: “Room I of the #TribunalSentenciaNacional program for Monday, July 5 at 9:00 am, the corresponding ruling of the Oral and Public Trial in the case filed for Roberto Castillo Mejía, who is linked to the Assassination of the Environmentalist Berta Isabel Cáceres.”

PBI-Honduras has been accompanying COPINH during the trial of former DESA hydroelectric dam executive David Castillo that started on April 6. He is accused of being an intellectual co-author in the murder of Cáceres on March 2, 2016.

Castillo is alleged to have coordinated with, and provided funds to, the men who were the material authors of the murder of Cáceres.

Cáceres opposed the Agua Zarca dam that DESA was building on the Gualcarque River without the free, prior and informed consent of the Indigenous Lenca people. The Intercept has reported that DESA executives had become angry when Cáceres’ protests disrupted their investment in the hydroelectric dam.

In December 2019, when four hitmen were sentenced for this crime, Bertha Zúñiga Cáceres stated: “These sentences are a start in breaking the impunity, but we’re going to make every effort to ensure that all those responsible – the company executives and state officials identified in the trial – are prosecuted.”

She has also commented: “There is only one case open – which has also been extremely delayed – and that is of David Castillo, the president of the company. However, for us, David Castillo is a minor and in fact, the weakest representative of the powerful people that took the decision and economically lent support to this crime.”

PBI-Honduras has echoed her statement by tweeting: “A thorough investigation of all the masterminds of the crime is urgently needed.”

PBI-Honduras has accompanied COPINH since May 2016.

COPINH tweet (April 29): The daughters of #BertaCáceres and the legal team that represents them together with COPINH, ratifies their commitment in the fight for #JusticiaParaBerta. “They have believed that impunity is eternal, they are wrong, the people know how to do justice”

#JusticiaParaBerta