HONDURAS COUP RESISTANCE – WHO ARE GUILTY OF “SEDITION”?
Sister Of Community Leader, Berta Caceres, Is Illegally Detained, Tortured … and Now In Prison Awaiting Trial for “Sedition”; Dozens More Illegally Detained And Charged With Sedition
(October 1, 2009, Day 96 of coup resistance, Alert#75)
BELOW: an update about the “trial”

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WHO ARE GUILTY OF SEDITION?
A Judge has found “sufficient evidence” of the crime of “sedition” against Augustina Flores Lopez (sister of Berta Caceres, key member of the National Front Against the Coup and leader with COPINH) and has ordered that Agustina remain in jail for her sedition trial.
In a previous Honduras Coup Alert (September 27, 2009, Alert#74), we quoted Agustina: “While one of them twisted my arms behind me and put handcuffs on me, another was hitting me in the face and choking me around the neck. […] While hitting me, they were shouting: “You are the bitches of the resistance.  It is good that you get fucked over.””
THE “PRE-TRIAL” OF AGUSTINA FLORES LOPEZ
(From: Rosario Martinez, of Rights Action, in Honduras [rosmartineza@yahoo.es] Sent: Wednesday, September 30, 2009 1:22 AM)
On Tuesday September 29, a pre-trial hearing was held for Mario Enrique Molina and Agustina Flores Lopez, both detained during the violent and lethal crackdown by the Honduran military and police near the Brazilian embassy, on Tuesday September 22.  Mario Molina and Agustina Flores were charged with:
1. Aggravated assault.  This charge was dismissed, against both Mario and Agustina;
2. Sedition.  This charge was dismissed against Mario and upheld against Agustina.
The Judge, Laura Casco, concluded there was “sufficient evidence” of “sedition” against Agustina to proceed to trial.  Agustina is a 54 year old teacher, who has received national recognition for her teaching and her community work.
Judge Casco found that Agustina Flores is a danger to society, as she is a member of the anti-coup resistance, and that she was following orders of “insurrection” given by “citizen Manuel Zelaya.”  Judge Casco determined that Agustina, if released, might incite others to insurrection.
The only witnesses were 2 of the police officers who participated in the detention … and the beatings of Augustina and other detained.  Judge Casco found that the police officers used the “minimal amount of force necessary” to detain Agustina, even though a video presented in court showed Agustina with her hands handcuffed behind her back, being beaten in her face and other parts of her body.  The judge also used, as “evidence”, that Agustina said that she was a member of the resistance and that she had been exercising her rights to peaceful protest.  Lawyers for Agustina had no access to the case file or to police statements.  They asked for a medical examination of Agustina, that was not permitted.
Agustina has been moved to the Centro Femenino de Adaptacin Social (CEFAS) jail in Tamaras, 30 minutes from Tegucigalpa.
KANGEROO COURTS & TRIALS
On September 30, some 55 people were illegally detained at the INA (National Agrarian Institute) in Tegucigalpa, where they had been peacefully gathered.  They have had their preliminary hearings and are all being charged with … “sedition”.
ILLEGAL REGIME, A PRODUCT OF “SEDITION”, USES LEGAL SYSTEM AS TOOL OF REPRESSION
Along with direct repression (killings, beatings, torture, rape, firing rubber and live bullets, tear-gas, etc), the illegal oligarchic-military regime, headed by Roberto Micheletti and General Romeo Vasquez, is also using the legal system as a tool of repression against anyone who protests in favour of the restoration of democracy and the legal-constitutional order.
Sedition is the crime of ‘incitement of resistance to or insurrection against lawful authorities’.  It is the plotters and perpetrators of the June 28th military coup who are guilty of sedition and of rupturing the legal-constitutional order of Honduras.
The very idea of a fair trial is absurd, in the militarized state of Honduras.  Yet, Agustina – and others – are in jail on trumped up charges, processed by pro-coup Judges, with no effective legal rights.
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WHAT TO DO

AMERICANS & CANADIANS should contact our members of congress, senators & members of parliament every day, day after day, send copies of this information, and demand:

MAKE TAX-DEDUCTIBLE DONATIONS to support Honduran organizations and people working with the National Front Against the Coup.
Make check to “rights action” and mail to:
UNITED STATES:  Box 50887, Washington DC, 20091-0887
CANADA:  552-351 Queen St. E, Toronto ON, M5A-1T8
CREDIT-CARD DONATIONS:  http://rightsaction.org/contributions.htm
For foundations and institutional donors, Rights Action can (upon request) provide a full proposal of which organizations and people we are channeling funds to and supporting.
SPEAKING TOURS: “RESISTANCE TO MILITARY COUPS & GOLD MINING DEVASTATION IN HONDURAS & GUATEMALA”
In October, activists with Rights Action will be on speaking tours in Ontario, Quebec and eastern Canada, and north-east USA, showing slides and short documentaries and speaking about the on-going pro-democracy, anti coup movement in Honduras and about indigenous and community resistance to Goldcorp Inc.’s open-pit, cyanide leach mines in Guatemala and Honduras.
Karen Spring (spring.kj@gmail.com) in Ontario
Francois Guindon (francois.guindon@gmail.com) in Quebec and eastern Canada
Grahame Russell (info@rightsaction.org) in north-east USA
Thank-you for your on-going support for our work and for this amazing struggle.

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