Was Yuri Melini shot and wounded because of his work on environmental issues?
Neighbors of Yuri Melini, director of the Centre for Legal-Environmental and Social Action of Guatemala (CALAS), look at crime scene investigators collecting evidence outside his house in Guatemala City on September 04, 2008. An unknown man shot Melini four times wounded him when he was boarding his vehicle on his way to work, a fireman said. Photo credit: EITAN ABRAMOVICH/AFP/Getty Images
GUATEMALA
Yuri Melini has been shot by masked men, apparently in connection with his work as Director of the Centre for Environmental, Social and Legal Action. Amnesty International believes he, his family and colleagues are in grave danger.
On 4 September at approximately 7:30 am Yuri Melini left his car and walked towards a house of a relative. A man standing near to him called his name and when he caught his attention fired at him four times. One bullet missed but three other hit him in the stomach, right knee and left leg.
CALAS has recently been involved in a number of high profile environmental issues, including legally challenging the law that permits opencast mining for gold and other metals, campaigning against contamination of water sources and occupation of land in nature reserves. The attack against Yuri Melini is believed to be linked to his role in CALAS and the work of the organization.
Other human rights defenders working on environmental concerns and focussing on similar issues to CALAS have also been threatened.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Guatemalan environmental activists have in the past been subject to attacks in order to stop them from carrying out their legitimate activities. They work to protect the environment and the human rights of indigenous and peasant communities whose livelihoods depend upon the environment.
On 10 January 2007, Carlos Albacete Rosales and Piedad Espinosa Albacete of the environmental organization Trópico Verde were shot at while they were in a taxi. They managed to escape unscathed. In January and February 2007, Flaviano Bianchini of the environmental organization MadreSelva Collective (Colectivo MadreSelva) was threatened with death and followed on several occasions (see Persecution and Resistance: The experience of human rights defenders in Guatemala and Honduras, AMR 02/001/2007, 08 August 2007).
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send personally-worded appeals in Spanish or your own language:
- expressing concern for the safety of Yuri Melini, his family and his colleagues in CALAS;
- urging the President and the Minister of the Interior to ensure that immediate measures are taken and maintained to guarantee the safety of Yuri Melini in strict accordance with his wishes;
- calling for the Attorney General to order an immediate, thorough and swift investigation into this incident, with the results made public and those responsible brought to justice;
- reminding the authorities of the right of human rights defenders to carry out their activities without any restrictions or fear of reprisals, as set out in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights and Responsibilities of Individuals, Groups and Institutions to Promote and Protect Universally Recognised Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.
APPEALS TO:
President:
Lic. Álvaro Colom
Casa Presidencial
6ª Avenida, 4-18, Zona 1
Ciudad de Guatemala, GUATEMALA
Fax 011 502 2221 4423 / 502 2238 3579
Salutation: Dear President / Estimado Sr. Presidente
Attorney General and Head of the Public Prosecutor’s Office:
Lic. José Amílcar Velásquez Zárate
Fiscal General de la República y Jefe del Ministerio Público
8ª Avenida 10-67, Zona 1, Antiguo Edificio del Banco de los Trabajadores
Ciudad de Guatemala, GUATEMALA
Fax: 011 502 2411 9124
Salutation: Dear Attorney General / Estimado Sr. Fiscal General
Minister of the Interior:
Francisco José Jiménez Irungaray
Ministro de Gobernación
6ª Avenida 13-71, Zona 1,
Ciudad de Guatemala, GUATEMALA
Fax: 011 502 2413 8658
Salutation: Dear Minister / Estimado Sr. Ministro
COPIES TO:
His Excellency Manuel Estuardo ROLDAN BARILLAS
Ambassador for the Republic of Guatemala
130 Albert Street, Suite 1010
Ottawa, Ontario K1P 5G4
Fax: (613) 233-0135
Email: embassy1@embaguate-canada.com
Centro de Acción Legal – Ambiental y Social de Guatemala
Avenida Mariscal 13-59 Zona 11
Ciudad de Guatemala, GUATEMALA
Please respond with appeals as soon as possible. Thank you.