The spokeswoman for the judiciary in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Lucía Villars, has announced that the trial will begin next Friday, in which all parties are convened. For its part, COPINH has denounced this Wednesday that the call has been opened without any notification and without taking action to the legal authorities. “Irregularities are still there. The plot is becoming more and more evident. We don’t want convictions, we want a fair trial,” you can read in the message broadcast on Twitter.

The trial for the murder of Cáceres was to be held on 10 September, but that first date was postponed until 17 September because “the proposition of evidence lasted a few days”, according to Naiz. On the 17th, however, due to the irregularities committed by the court during the whole pre-trial process and the unwillingness to try the intellectual authors of the murder, individuals who prepared the murder and hired the assassins to carry it out, the COPINH and the family of Cáceres appealed to the Honduran Public Prosecutor’s Office against the Judicial Tribunal of the Supreme Court of Justice, demanding amendment. After these two extensions of dates, the court called for the commencement date of the trial on 15 October. The COPINH denounced that the call was held "illegally", and maintained its rejection, along with the family of Berta Cáceres, as a particular indictment. “The particular accusation requires a fair trial, not all existing irregularities can be brought to trial,” said COPINH. With these irregularities, the trial in the National Hearing will begin on Friday.

“DESA guilty”

Berta Cáceres, indigenous activist, environmentalist and feminist, was murdered at her home in La Esperanza (Honduras) on 3 March 2016. In the murder, Mexican environmental activist Gustavo Castro, who was beside him, was also wounded, the only witness to the crime.

Coinciding with the trial, COPINH has launched the “DESA Errudun” campaign with the aim of highlighting the responsibility of DESA (Desarrollo Energia S.A.) in the assassination of Cáceres. The company DESA owns the hydroelectric project “Agua Zarca” which was about to collide in the battle of Cáceres. In the face of the construction of the hydroelectric dam intended to build the project, Cáceres strongly defended the people of Lenca and the Gualcarque River and was therefore murdered. There is evidence that the company DESA is behind the death of Cáceres and that it has a criminal record.

COPINH has stressed that the cause of Cáceres is the same one that has fought more than 200 people killed each year to defend their territory against similar projects, as well as organizations that claim the collective rights of peoples and the rights of women at international level. As they have pointed out, with the complicity of governments and dream forces, the murder of Cáceres shows the impunity of several companies for imposing their vision of “development”. The campaign aims to make all this visible.