A Honduran judge issued arrest warrants for a journalist and 16 environmental leaders for allegedly opposing a forest management plan in the town of El Porvenir, in central Honduras, reported the Committee for Free Expression (C-Libre in Spanish).
Carlos Amador, director of the news program "In Direct Line with the People" on Radio Porvenir Stereo, said that the judge accused him of using the radio station to incite violence. "I think this is political persecution and a violation of freedom of expression," he said, as quoted by IFEX. "They want to silence the communities, but they're not going to succeed."
Amador told the digital newspaper defensoresenlinea.org, of the Committee of Relatives of Disappeared Detainees in Honduras (COFADEH in Spanish), that "the law does not prevail over our right as citizens to defend the environment”.
In a statement published by Tercera Información, the environmentalists' defense attorney, Kenia Oliva, said the judge's decision was "unjust" and that she would appeal. Further, she said the judge attempted to silence Amador by prohibiting him from broadcasting news about the case.
