PRESS RELEASE
TEGUCIGALPA: November 5, 2009 — The president of the Committee for the Defense of Human Rights in Honduras (CODEH), Andres Pavon, formally requested that the Public Defender’s office undertake legal proceedings and criminal investigations against Roberto Micheletti Bain, de facto regime president, as well as General Romeo Vasquez Velasquez, head of the joint chiefs of staff, and a host of other coup regime leaders, for the crimes of torture, crimes against public health and freedom of movement, and for other illegal activities undertaken as part of the sustained police and military operations that have been in effect at the Brazilian Embassy since democratically-elected president Manual “Mel” Zelaya arrived there last September 21, 2009.
CODEH also believes that investigations for crimes of omission should be undertaken in the cases of the Human Rights Comissioner, Ramon Custodio Lopez, as well as the Attorney General Luis Alberto Rubi, since protecting citizens from torture is the responsibility of the Human Rights Commission and the Criminal Investigation unit of the Attorney General.