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Colombia: Update - Further death threats against members of CREDHOSposted on: 2012/02/03

Members of Corporación Regional para la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos - CREDHOS (Regional Corporation for the Defence of Human Rights) have received further death threats.

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Honduras: Death threats and intimidation of human rights defender Ms Gilda Carolina Silvestrucchiposted on: 2012/01/27

Over the course of January 2012 human rights defender and independent journalist and editor of daily programme "En La Plaza" Ms Gilda Carolina Silvestrucchi has been subjected to surveillance and death threats.

Colombia: Death threats at gunpoint against human rights defender Mr Abelardo Sánchez Serranoposted on: 2012/01/19

On 13 January 2012, human rights defender Mr Abelardo Sánchez Serrano was threatened by two unknown men on a motorcycle in Barrancabermeja.

Russian Federation: Death threats against human rights defender Ms Lilya Shibanova amid campaign of persecution against election watchdog Golosposted on: 2011/12/13

On 11 December 2011, the words “Shibanova, die” were discovered daubed on the apartment door of Ms Lilya Shibanova, head of election monitoring organisation NGO for Democratic Rights and Liberties Golos (“Voice” or “Vote” in Russian).

Guatemala: Threats against human rights defenders Dr Yuri Giovanni Melini Salguero and Mr Pedro Rafael Maldonado Floresposted on: 2011/08/30

Human rights defenders Dr Yuri Giovanni Melini Salguero and Mr Pedro Rafael Maldonado Flores received threats on 29 August 2011. Yuri Giovanni Melini Salguero is the director of the Centro de Acción Legal, Ambiental y Social de Guatemala – CALAS (Legal, Environmental and Social Action Centre of Guatemala) and Pedro Rafael Maldonado Flores is a legal-political environmental coordinator with the same organisation.

Further Information

CALAS works to promote environmental issues, community participation and respect for the collective rights of indigenous communities in relation to environmental concerns. Yuri Giovanni Melini Salguero received the 2009 Front Line Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk. Front Line previously issued an appeal in relation to an assassination attempt against Yuri Giovanni Melini Salguero on 4 September 2008, and death threats in April 2010.

On 29 August 2011, at approximately 09:30 am, Yuri Giovanni Melini Salguero and Pedro Rafael Maldonado Flores each received a letter in a manila envelope which had been sent by registered post.

Peru: Ongoing death threats against imprisoned human rights defender Estinaldo Quispe Mego, whose access to vital medication is further deniedposted on: 2011/08/30

On 6 July and 19 August 2011, human rights defender Mr Estinaldo Quispe Mego was found guilty and sentenced to two four-year prison terms charged with two counts of usurping public office in connection with two separate boundary disputes in which he acted as intermediary. Since his imprisonment on 6 July, Estinaldo Quispe Mego has received death threats from other prisoners, and his access to medication for his diabetes has been denied.

Further Information

Estinaldo Quispe Mego is President of the Federación de Rondas Campesinas de Santa Cruz (Federation of Peasant Rounds of Santa Cruz). He advocates for the rights of communities affected by a mining project in Cabecara de Cuenca which is being conducted by Zanja Mining Company. The project is believed to threaten the economic, social, and environmental rights of the communities.

On 19 August 2011, Estinaldo Quispe Mego was sentenced by Judge Luis Enrique Alvarez Sáenz, who presides over the judicial district of Santa Cruz, in relation to charges of 'usurping public office' stemming from his intervention in a boundary dispute.

Brazil: Death threats against human rights defenders Fr Inaldo Serejo and Mr Diogo Cabralposted on: 2011/07/28

On 25 July 2011, Fr Inaldo Serejo, Coordinator of the Maranhão State branch of the Comissão Pastoral da Terra - CPT (Pastoral Land Commission), and Mr Diogo Cabral, human rights lawyer with the Comisão de Direitos Humanos da Ordem dos Advogados do Brasil – OABMA (Human Rights Commission at the Maranhão branch of the Bar Association) received death threats as they attended a preliminary hearing in the municipality of Cantanhede, in the State of Maranhão.

Further Information

CPT is an organisation that works closely with trade unions, landless movements and small farmers in their struggle for land reform.

On 25 July 2011, Fr Inaldo Serejo and Diogo Cabral travelled to Cantanhede, Maranhão, to attend a preliminary hearing before the local judiciary (Process No: 3432010) in which ownership of an area of 1089 hectares of land was to be discussed. The land is occupied by the Quilombola from Salgado, in Pirapemas. Upon arrival at the hearing one of the farmers contesting ownership of the land shouted from the doorway that the Quilombolas were bringing unwanted outside attention to the region, a comment that was directed at Fr Inaldo Serejo and Diogo Cabral.

Nepal: Attempted assault, death threats and intimidation of human rights defender Jitman Basnet posted on: 2011/07/21

Since June 2011 human rights defender Mr Jitman Basnet has received death threats, as well as being subjected to an attempted assault by unknown individuals. Jitman Basnet is a journalist and human rights lawyer based in Kathmandu and is a recipient of the Universal Human Rights Promotion Award in India. He is the General Secretary of Lawyers' Forum for Human Rights, an NGO that works to combat impunity associated with human rights violations.

On 18 and 21 June 2011 Jitman Basnet received two threatening phone calls to his personal mobile phone. On 18 June 2011, at 7.42pm, an unknown caller rang Jitman Basnet and asked him why he was outside his house. When Jitman Basnet asked who was on the line, the unknown caller said that the human rights defender would soon be made aware of who was calling him. On 21 June at 7.00pm, in a phone call from a number that he did not recognise, the caller told Jitman Basnet that he was near his house and that “if you don't meet us soon, you will bear the result. Death is coming”. It is reported that the call was made from a public telephone located in Bhaktapur.

DRC: Repeated threats against human rights defender Justin BAHIRWE posted on: 2011/07/19

Human rights defender Mr Justin Bahirwe, coordinator of SOS Information Juridique Multisectorielle (SOS IJM), received death threats and intimidatory messages by phone on 6, 7, 10, 30 June and 1 July 2011. The undersigned NGOs express their deep concern about the threats received by Justin Bahirwe and call on the Congolese authorities to ensure his physical and psychological integrity.

According to the information received by the undersigned NGOs, the threats appeared to be related to the human rights activities of Justin Bahirwe. The human rights defender is currently working on a project funded by the European Commission and aimed to strengthen the role of civil society in rural areas. The threats appeared to be also related to Justin Bahirwe's work on the case of his colleague Mr Adrien Zawadi, project supervisor at SOS IJM, who was violently assaulted on 1 May 2011.

Colombia: Death threats received by members of MOVICE Capítulo Valleposted on: 2011/06/09

Human rights defenders, Ms Jenny Torres, Ms Martha Giraldo and Mr Julio Cesar Rosero, received death threats on 2 and 7 June 2011. Jenny Torres and Martha Giraldo are members of the Movimiento de Víctimas de Crímenes de Estado – MOVICE (Movement of Victims of State Crimes) in Valle del Cauca, Colombia, and lawyer Julio Cesar Rosero is providing legal representation to Jenny Torres in the trial against military officers for the 2007 killing of her husband Edinson Yimel Villanueva.