DAY FORTY: Trial Against David Castillo
/Last Update: June 19 at 12:20 am
Main Points of the Day
The defense’s witness Ramon Rosa Rivera Perdomo finished on the stand testifying that Castillo had a good relationship with communities in San Francisco de Ojüera and admitting that he (Rivera Perdomo) did not have knowledge of the indigenous ancestry of Rio Blanco or San Francisco de Ojüera, creating doubt about his insistence that free, prior, informed consent was obtained in the communities affected by the Agua Zarca dam.
The defense called another witness, investigative police officer Juan Carlos Cruz who explained, in a very confusing manner, a line of investigation involving an audio file that made reference to the murder of a woman that “had problems with mayors in Intibucá” and a red vehicle allegedly used during the crime. Cruz briefly outlined how his team followed this line of investigation but it was later not continued by the Attorney General’s office. This witness seems to be part of the defense’s strategy to show that Honduran investigators did not explore all important and relevant lines of investigation, and instead focused on their client.
Trial is convened for 9 am tomorrow.
More Details
DESA Employee Ramon Rosa Rivera Finishes On the Stand
SOME QUESTIONS BY THE PRIVATE ACCUSERS
Q: What knowledge do you have about when the project was approved? A: I only know about this aspect for the right side of the river when they changed to SFO in 2014.
Q: You mentioned ILO169, why were the communities not consulted before the project began? A: Because in Honduras it’s not clear whether the consultation has to happen before the construction or before the approval of the project.
Q: You said that there were consultations in SFO in 2014, what public officials were part of this process? A: Just the company and the communities, and the mayor.
Q: What knowledge do you have about the indigenous community that Berta Cáceres was part of? A: I don’t have any knowledge of that
Q: What knowledge do you have about the indigenous communities that Rio Blanco is part of? A: I just know that the community of Rio Blanco has a title that they obtained from a long time ago. That’s all I know.
Police Investigator Juan Carlos Cruz Testifies For the Defense About A Line of Investigation Not Investigated By The Attorney General’s Office
[NOTE: Juan Carlos Cruz was formally accused, along with another police officer, for falsifying evidence related to the Berta Cáceres murder investigation.]
Cruz sat so close to the microphone and did not speak clearly both in tone and subject. It was hard to hear him and the court had to repeatedly interrupt him to clarify his testimony
DECLARATION:
On the day that the murder occurred - March 2, 2016 - we went to work in La Esperanza, Intibuca. The investigative team I was part of went to the crime scene. There was already an individual that had been detained - Aureliano Molina but later, they ruled out his involvement.
On March 15, a person [unclear if this was a police officer] from Concepción del Sur in the department of Santa Barbara, said that he had information about Berta Cáceres’s murder. He said that a person contacted him with information. The team went to Concepción del Sur and we spoke to the person who began protected witness TT30. This happened on March 30 at 10 pm and the following day, we travelled to La Esperanza. The next day we handed over the cell phone. In the declaration he gave, he talked about an audio from a cell phone that had been passed to someone [unclear who] and then passed to him.
Another protected witness, TT8, had the original audio which had been recorded in a bathing area (balneario) [hot spring or public pool] an was transferred to TT30s cell phone.
We requested wire taps of the cell phone numbers identified in our investigation. We took pictures and offered three witnesses.
DEFENSE QUESTIONS THE WITNESS:
Q: Who was part of the investigative team? A: We were 8 all together with the prosecutors
Q: What knowledge do you have about how many investigative teams went to La Esperanza after the murder? A: We were sent there from our department and there were also teams from ATIC (Technical Criminal Investigation Agency)
Q: What community did you have to go to for the investigation? A: To Concepción del Sur
Q: Who did you go with? A: The investigative team and the technicians
Q: What as the role of David Valladares? A: He was a cell phone extraction technician.
Q: When did you arrive there? A: On March 30 between 2 or 3 pm
Q: What was the name of the bathing area that the protected witness mentioned? A: The Voltosa [hard to hear name]
Q: Who were the people that protected witness TT8 identified? A: He identified someone named Luis, Santos, Tito, Nelson and Velasquez but there was only one person talking in the audio, it was Nelson.
Q: How do you know that Nelson was the person talking in the audio? A: Because of the identification we did through our investigation
Q: What knowledge do you have about what was done with the investigation? A: I don’t know - I don’t know if it was closed or if it’s still open
Q: Can you tell us, if you remember, the exact contents of what was in the audio recording? A: It was a person that was talking about he had to be in Intibucá and mentioned a woman that was opposed to a dam?
Q: What woman were they referring to? A: Berta Cáceres
Q: About the car mentioned in the audio, how dod you know that the car was linked to the municipal authorities in Concepción del Sur? [inaudible answer. It was not possible to hear or understand this part in his declaration].
QUESTIONS FROM THE PROSECUTORS
Q: How long have you worked in the Investigative Police (DPI)? A: 17 years
Q: What date did you arrive in La Esperanza? A: On March 3
Q: Who seized the cell phone? A: Gonzalez [full name inaudible]
Q: What part of the police did you work with? A: The Preventative police
Q: How do you know that the murder that was being discussed in the audio, was referring to Berta Cáceres if they never said her name? I don’t remember well but we thought it was Berta Cáceres.
Q: How was it that you listened to the audio, who was there when you played the audio? All from the team
[I largely gave up noting the questions and answers because it was impossible to hear so many of the witness’s responses]