Dna Bertha Oliva, Director of COFADEH

The office of human rights organisation, Comité de Familiares de Detenidos Desaparecidos en Honduras – COFADEH (the Committe for relatives of disappeared detainees in Honduras), has come under a police tear-gas attack in Tegucigalpa on 22 September 2009. At the time of the attack the office was fully staffed and approximately 100 people, including women and children, were inside the building.

Further Information

The police assault followed the break-up of a popular demonstration welcoming the return of deposed President Manuel Zelaya on 21 September. This latest attack against COFADEH comes during a period of serious deterioration in the human rights situation in the country.

On 22 September 2009 it is reported that approximately 15 police officers parked outside the entrance to the COFADEH office and attempted to enter the building. Since they could not enter, they fired tear gas canisters at the office without issuing a prior warning. Inside the office, approximately 100 people were providing reports of police abuse during the break-up of a demonstration outside the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa.

Front Line is deeply concerned at the harassment and intimidation of human rights defenders in Honduras, and believes that this latest attack on the office of COFADEH is directly related to the work of the organisation in defence of human rights in Honduras.