PBI-Honduras accompanies COFADEH at trial of police femicide of nursing student Keyla Martinez

Photo: PBI-Honduras also accompanied the National Network of Women Human Rights Defenders at a memorial to Keyla, February 2022.

On September 26, PBI-Honduras tweeted:

“PBI accompanies @defencofadeh [the Committee of Families of Detained- Disappeared in Honduras] in the trial for the Keyla Martínez case. At PBI we recall the importance of guaranteeing access to truth and justice. We express concern about the levels of violence faced by women in Honduras. #JusticeForKeyla”

On Facebook, PBI-Honduras added:

“We express concern about the levels of violence that women face in Honduras. According to data from the Observatory for Violence Against Women at the Center for Women’s Rights (CDM) from January to August 31 this year, a total of 198 femicides are recorded in the country. Also, more than 95% of cases go unpunished.”

Criterio.hn reports:

“A year and seven months after the murder of Keyla Patricia Martínez Rodríguez, the oral and public trial began this Thursday, September 22, in the courts of Siguatepeque, Comayagua, against the only policeman who is indicated as involved in the case, Jarol Rolando Perdomo Sarmiento.

Jarol Perdomo was accused by the Public Ministry (MP) of aggravated femicide, but the court of La Esperanza, Intibucá, was in charge of classifying the crime as simple homicide.

On February 7, 2021, the date of the crime against Keyla Martínez, a 26-year-old nursing student, more than 13 agents were on duty at the Police Departmental Unit Number 10, in La Esperanza, Intibucá, where she had been locked in a cell.

“We know that it was not only a policeman who murdered Keyla, we know that the State of Honduras is responsible for the murder, the femicide of our comrade Keyla Martínez,” said Yessica Trinidad, Director of the National Network of Women Human Rights Defenders in Honduras (RNDDH).

The development of the oral and public trial is scheduled from Thursday 22 to Thursday 29 September 2022.”

Further reading: PBI-Honduras accompanies the National Network of Women Human Rights Defenders at memorial for Keyla Martínez (February 8, 2022)

Photo of Keyla Martinez.