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Tegucigalpa and Washington, D.C., June 29, 2021 – International organizations express deep concern about the most recent pressures against members of the Specialized Prosecutorial Unit against Corruption Networks (UFERCO) in Honduras. This latest attempt at intimidation, in the form of two new disciplinary proceedings against at least three of UFERCO’s prosecutors by the Inspectorate of the Public Prosecutor’s Office and a new criminal case by the Prosecutor’s Office for the Prosecution of Justice Sector Officials and Servants, are part of a systematic pattern of criminalization of prosecutors in charge of investigating and litigating cases of grand corruption involving powerful interests.
Since the departure of the Mission to Support the Fight against Corruption and Impunity in Honduras (MACCIH), numerous spurious disciplinary proceedings have been initiated against members of UFERCO, including its director, Luis Javier Santos, which remain open and in which minimum due process guarantees are not being observed. The extension of the ordinary deadlines in these cases, summonses to make a statement without guaranteeing a minimum prior knowledge of the facts that motivate the investigation, and the carrying out of interrogations that go beyond the case under investigation are just some of the irregularities that have a direct effect on the independence of UFERCO’s prosecutors.
Read the press release here.
