“As the trial has developed right now, there are many inconsistencies on the part of the expert of the Prosecutor’s Office, in which he has had more than 138 observations where they say that they have been wrong, therefore we believe that they should declare Mr. David Castillo innocent,” he valued Daniel Atala’s legal representative, Nelson Iván Domínguez.
Central Editorial Office / EL LIBERTADOR
Tegucigalpa. Nelson Iván Domínguez, legal representative of the financial manager of the company Desarrollos Energéticos SA (DESA), Daniel Atala, shared with EL LIBERTADOR his version of the trial against the general manager of the company, Roberto David Castillo Mejía, which was carried out yesterday afternoon in the National Sentencing Court of this city.
He explained that “the hearing took place because they called my witness to testify on behalf of the private prosecution, in this case as it was summoned by them, but they also had complaints against my client.” For that reason, he stated that “they resorted to article 88 of the Constitution of the Republic, which says that no one can testify against himself.”
Article 88 of the Constitution of the Republic establishes: “No violence or coercion of any kind shall be exercised on people to force or testify. (…) Any statement obtained in violation of any of these provisions is null and void and those responsible will incur the penalties established by law ”.
In that sense, he commented that “in accordance with that, the court accepted his request in accordance with article 88 and it was soon established that someone cannot testify against himself, since what Copinh wanted was for a statement to be made and blaming himself, something that was not correct.
The lawyer Iván Domínguez maintained that Daniel Atala was not afraid to testify before the Sentencing Court: “Fear why, if what is already established, what is already investigated, is on the phones and there is nothing that involves him.”
NOTE OF INTEREST: HONDURAS / DANIEL ATALA TURNS OFF “ZOOM” AND TAKES HIM TO THE BERTA TRIBUNAL COURT
As he said, “the part of Copinh, they have an international demand in what is Holland and this statement they wanted to establish as something that would help them in that demand that they have for more than 5 million euros before the Dutch bank FMO”.
It is appropriate to mention that members of the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (Copinh) and European environmental activists, held protests in April 2016 in front of the building of the Dutch Development Bank (FMO) in the Netherlands, because as they mention it is one of the banks that financially financed the DESA company that caused the destruction of the Blanco River in the sacred river Gualcarque de Intibucá.
Regarding the assessments of his client Daniel Atala, regarding the trial against the alleged mastermind of the murder of Berta Cáceres, David Castillo, the Atala’s lawyer said that “he (Daniel) has been pending the trial since he was summoned as a witness by the Copinh ”.
The defender of Daniel Atala pointed out that in his opinion “how the trial has developed right now, there are many inconsistencies on the part of the expert of the Prosecutor’s Office, in which he has had more than 138 observations where they say they have been wrong, therefore we believe that they should declare Mr. David Castillo innocent “.
The lawyer emphasizes that David Castillo Mejía should be declared innocent, because “in the telephone conversations, what the expert did is remove various things from what was had in the extraction of the phones and placed him in other chats as if he had programmed the death of Berta Cáceres ”.
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