A lawyer who served as a newspaper source was killed in Honduras on Jan. 17, three days after speaking out against police abuse and torture, reported the freedom of expression organization C-Libre.
Lawyer José Ricardo Rosales told the newspaper El Tiempo on Jan. 14 that police were torturing detainees and fondling female prisoners in the coastal city of Tela, in northern Honduras, reported the Associated Press.
The lawyer was shot to death leaving his home, where his legal practice was based, reported La Prensa. According to this publication, 74 lawyers have been killed in Honduras in the last three years along with 17 journalists killed since 2010, making the Central American country the second most dangerous place in the Americas for reporters.
Rosales was the defense lawyer for Marco Joel Álvarez, "The Unicorn," freed in November 2011 after being accused of killing journalist David Meza, reported the newspaper La Tribuna.
