PBI-Honduras has posted: “[On June 25] we observed the trial of student Hery Yovani Flores Quiroz, arrested on Tuesday, June 22 [after he participated in] the march against the ZEDES [controversial special economic zones].”

“He is charged with the alleged crime of aggravated arson that would have occurred on October 24, 2019, in Tegucigalpa [during a right to health and education protest].”

PBI-Honduras adds: “Replacement measures were given to pre-trial detention.” This means he will not have to stay in prison until his trial.

PBI-Honduras has also highlighted that Hery Flores is a student from @UNAHoficial (the National Autonomous University of Honduras).

Defensores en linea explains: “The incident [for which he is being charged] allegedly occurred on October 24, 2019, to the detriment of the Punto Farma pharmacy, in Tegucigalpa, during the days of protests for the right to health and education.”

They have also noted: “Hery Flores is due to appear at a Preliminary Hearing on July 20 to continue the legal process for the legal team to prove his innocence.”

“[At the hearing on June 25] they explained that he is not a dangerous person, that for the crime he is accused of, he did not even need the presence of the fire department and that some digital evidence presented by the Public Prosecutor’s Office would not be accepted.”

That article adds: “The documents for Hery’s release will be sent [on June 26] to the maximum-security prison located in El Porvenir [which is located outside of Tegucigalpa] where the student was returned, and at about noon [on June 27] he will be able to return to his home in Tegucigalpa.”

Kaosenlard also notes: “Human rights defenders and student leaders criticized that [Hery Flores] has not been tried and was sent to a prison built for highly dangerous prisoners, politicians named in corruption cases receive alternative measures to prison or are sent to comfortable army battalions.”

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders adds: “The Observatory emphasizes that in recent years the student movement has been strongly repressed by the university and government authorities, which have resorted to the use of police force and elite bodies of the State security forces to repress demonstrations, as well as the filing of criminal proceedings against the members of the movement, including against Eduardo Urbina, with the aim of dismantling and delegitimizing the movement and its activities in defense of the right to education and the peaceful exercise of protest.”

PBI-Honduras comments: “According to data from COFADEH [Committee of Relatives of the Disappeared in Honduras], since 2017 more than 176 people have been criminalized for demonstrating against the current Government.”

Video of Hery Flores being released from prison, June 27.

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