During the 118th Assembly in Cape Town, the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians was able to propose to the IPU Governing Council the closure of its longest-standing case, namely that of Mr. Pavón Salazar from Honduras.
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Mr. Pavón was shot dead in January 1988 and since then the Committee has been following the investigation, consistently reminding the authorities of their duty to identify and prosecute those responsible for the murder. For a long time, the investigation, which in its initial phase revealed a link between Mr. Pavón’s murder and testimony he had given before the Inter-American Court on Human Rights on disappearances in Honduras, showed no signs of advancing, and came to a virtual standstill.
In 1993, following a report of the National Human Rights Commission on disappearances in Honduras, the investigation was re-opened, but then again stalled and was shelved for all intents and purposes. It was only almost ten years after the murder that a second re-opening of the investigation finally produced results. It led to the identification of two suspects, both former military officers. One of them disappeared during Hurricane Mitch and was officially declared dead in September 2000. The other one, Major Jaime Rosales, was located in the United States and extradited to Honduras in August 2003, where he stood trial. He was acquitted by a lower court, but was found guilty of Mr. Pavón’s murder during the appeal proceedings and was finally sentenced in June 2006 to 20 years’ imprisonment. He is currently serving the sentence.
This case is a good example of how the Committee’s consistent monitoring of a case can make a difference and contribute to justice being served in the end.
