Honduras: Indigenous leaders Marcelino and Leonardo Miranda released
Posted: October 3, 2006
Indigenous leaders Marcelino and Leonardo Miranda have been freed in Honduras. © Private
Indigenous leaders and prisoners of conscience Marcelino and Leonardo Miranda have been freed from prison in Honduras. The Supreme Court acquitted them in July 2006 of the 2001 killing of a man named Juan Reyes Gómez.
In Honduras, Indigenous activists and human rights defenders are treated as second-class citizens and receive second-class justice. During the Miranda brothers' trial in 2003, only the testimonies of prosecution witnesses were allowed. At the end of the trial, the brothers were each sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Both men have defended the rights of their communities and are leaders of the Civic Council of Indigenous and Popular Organizations. Amnesty International believes the brothers were persecuted because they tried to win legal recognition of their community's lands.
Amnesty considered them to be prisoners of conscience and launched a worldwide appeal for their release. Their freedom is a real victory for Indigenous people in Honduras and their supporters everywhere.
In Honduras and around the world, the rights of Indigenous peoples are under attack by governments and businesses. As part of the new No Exceptions campaign, Amnesty International is joining with Indigenous peoples' organizations to send a message that the human rights of Indigenous peoples must be respected and their cultures, livelihoods and lands protected.