2 Lawyers Killed Within 24 Hours in Honduras

Published 14 June 2017


In the course of 24 hours, two lawyers were killed in Honduras which has an unusually high rate of attorney murders, where most also go unpunished.

The first victim was Sendy Yoselyth Aguilar Morales, a young lawyer who worked as a prosecutor in the Tegucigalpa courts. Around midnight Tuesday, Aguilar was driving with a friend when she was attacked by a passing motorcyclist. Her companion took control of the car and drove directly to the nearest medical center, but the victim died by the time they reached the hospital.

Her death was followed by that of Rommel Fernando Vivas, who was shot and killed in the Medina barrio in San Pedro Sula. The victim had just begun working for the Income Administration Services two months ago. As he was preparing to leave for work Wednesday morning, Vivas was violently attacked as he entered his car. Witnesses stated that Vivas was beaten down by his attackers before being laid on the ground and shot in the head. The men escaped in a black vehicle.

Honduran police investigators were unable to say whether the two deaths were connected in any way. On average, the Central American country registers 14 civilian murders per day, the majority of which are attributed to organized crime and gang violence.

However, Honduras is known to have an unusually high rate of fatalities among lawyers, with more than 120 attorneys killed since 2010. According to a report published by the Honduran Human Rights Commission, 72 percent of these crimes have occurred in two departments, Francisco Morazan and Cortes, which are home to the country’s two largest cities: Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula. The report stated that a staggering 94 percent of these deaths have gone unpunished.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/2-Lawyers-Killed-Within-24-Hours-in-Honduras-20170614-0029.html

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