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Berta Cáceres

Berta Cáceres at the banks of the Gualcarque River in the Rio Blanco region of western Honduras. Photograph: Tim Russo/Goldman Environmental Prize

On Monday, Roberto David Castillo – the former head of the dam company Desarrollos Energeticos, or Desa – was found guilty of being co-collaborator in ordering the murder.

The high court in Tegucigalpa ruled that Cáceres was murdered for leading the campaign to stop construction of the dam, which led to delays and financial losses for the dam company.

The environmentally destructive energy project on the Gualcarque river, considered sacred by the Lenca people, was sanctioned even though it had not complied with national and international environmental and community requirements.

After a trial that lasted 49 days, the high court in Tegucigalpa ruled that Castillo used paid informants as well as his military contacts and skills to monitor Cáceres over years, information which was fed back to the company executives. He coordinated, planned and obtained the money to pay for the assassination of the internationally acclaimed leader, which was carried out by seven men convicted in December 2018.

In the verdict, the court highlighted the communication between Castillo and Douglas Bustillo, Desa’s former security chief and fellow ex-army officer, before and after the murder, as well as before and after a failed assassination attempt the previous month.

The two men were clearly discussing the plans, logistics and payment for the crime, the court ruled.

Castillo’s defence had claimed that he was friends with Cáceres. But the court rejected this claim, ruling that phone data proved Castillo maintained contact with Cáceres only to obtain information about her whereabouts and intentions.

The verdict was welcomed by Cáceres’s family, friends and colleagues as an important step in their struggle to hold to account all those who had a role in ordering, financing and enabling the murder – as well as in the attempted cover-up that followed.

Read the full story on the Guardian

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