The Attorney General of Honduras, Rosa Bautista, approached CJA in May 2006, following the conclusion of the U.S. civil case against López Grijalba, for assistance in prosecuting perpetrators in Honduras.
In December 2007, CJA completed its first human rights training program in Latin America: “Prosecuting Human Rights Crimes in National Courts” was held for two days in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. The training brought together 80 Honduran prosecutors and a faculty of legal practitioners from Latin America, Spain, and the United States with experience and expertise in the prosecution of human rights abusers. In addition to covering the basics of international law, criminal investigations, and case development, the sessions provided participants with specific examples of legal strategies used by prosecutors, judges, and attorneys for non-governmental agencies in the national courts of Argentina, Chile, Peru, Spain, and the United States.
The training faculty included Eduardo Freiler, Judge of the Argentine Federal Court of Appeals and one of the lead prosecutors of abuses committed during Argentina’s “Dirty War,” and Sergio Muñoz, President of the Supreme Court of Chile and a lead prosecutor of Pinochet-era abuses. Honduran Attorney General Leonidas Rosa Bautista stated at the training that “[the Honduran Government] has not done enough to prosecute those responsible for human rights abuses. This training by CJA is a first step to change that fact.”
Attorney General Rosa Bautista stated his intention to prosecute López Grijalba for human rights abuses based on evidence developed in CJA’s case. The prosecution of López Grijalba would be the first human rights prosecution in the country’s history and would have region-wide implications. López Grijalba was ordered deported to Honduras in 2004, but to date no criminal charges have been filed against him in his home country.
