Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: Rupert Colville Location: Geneva (1) Central America (2) Georgia

(1) Central America

We are extremely concerned about an apparent new trend of targeting public prosecutors in Central America, apparently by organized crime groups. Over the past week, public prosecutors have been murdered in both Guatemala and Honduras in the course of their duties, amid growing insecurity and violence in both countries.

On 24 May in Guatemala, Allan Stwolinsky, local auxiliary prosecutor in Coban (Department of Alta Verapaz) was found decapitated in a plastic bag in front of the governor's house. Both the Attorney-General and the Minister of the Interior blamed the murder on the Mexican drug cartel “Los Zetas” and linked it to the seizure of 453 kilograms of cocaine, which had been coordinated by the auxiliary prosecutor. This killing took place in the aftermath of the brutal massacre of 27 land workers in Peten, allegedly also by “Los Zetas”. We have expressed our support to the Attorney-General and expressed concern about the possible intention of “Los Zetas” to spread terror among the inhabitants of Coban and undermine the Attorney-General's efforts to combat crime and impunity.

In Honduras, on 28 May, Raul Reyes Carbajal, a public prosecutor in the city of San Pedro Sula, was gunned down by several armed men who shot at him from another vehicle as he was driving home from work. According to eyewitness reports, after Mr Reyes was hit in his car, he lost control and crashed into a bus. His attackers then got out of their vehicle and shot him again, to make sure he was dead. The Criminal Investigation Police discarded theft as a motive. Mr Reyes had been coordinator of the Regional Public Prosecutor's office in Puerto Cortes for one month, and had previously been coordinator of the Special Unit against Organised Crime. The killing comes at a time when the Human Rights Unit of the Public Prosecutor's office in San Pedro Sula had decided to investigate the killings of seven youth, reportedly linked to gangs, during a police operation a few days earlier.

The increasing vulnerability of human rights defenders in both of these countries has been of extreme concern. In Guatemala, in 2010 alone, 250 human rights defenders were victims of attacks and eight were killed, as noted in the High Commissioner’s report to the Human Rights Council. In Honduras, OHCHR has also been increasingly concerned about the situation of human rights defenders, journalists and members and activists of the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community.

(2) Georgia

With regard to the anti-Government protests in Tbilisi, Georgia last week where it appears there was disproportionate use of force by police to disperse protestors, we fully support the call by the Georgian Public Defender (the Ombudsman) for a comprehensive, effective and impartial investigation into the actions of the police. We stress that according to international law, the use of force shall be exercised to the minimum necessary and in line with the principles of necessity and proportionality. Attacks on physical integrity involving all sides should be promptly and duly investigated.

We understand that the Ombudsman has compiled a list of 162 people detained in the aftermath of the protests and that many of them have injuries of various sorts sustained in the dispersal of the protests. We stress that individuals who have been arrested and detained should be afforded their rights in accordance with international human rights standards. In particular they must receive adequate medical treatment, be free from torture and ill-treatment, know the reasons for their arrests, be able to exercise fully their right to legal counsel and the right to challenge the lawfulness of the arrest and detention.

We call on all sides to refrain from violence in the future and to act in line with national legislation and international standards governing freedom of assembly.

For more information or interviews, please contact spokesperson Rupert Colville (+41 22 917 9767 or rcolville@ohchr.org ) or press officers: Ravina Shamdasani (+ 41 22 917 9310 or rshamdasani@ohchr.org ) or Xabier Celaya (+ 41 22 917 9383 or xcelaya@ohchr.org )

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