In March of 2023, Nolvia Albertina Obando Turcios, was arrested and accused of land usurpation and indicted for this crime without the possibility of alternative measures. She was then taken to the Porvenir Prison in Atlántida, where she was held for five months. 

These unjust criminal proceedins now continue even though she is no longer in prison.  Some of the measures now taken against her include:  the payment of bail of more than two thousand dollars, the requirement to stay in the country without moving to the disputed territory, and the prohibition of an attempt to communicate with the landholder and his family.

During the court process unjustly held against her, Nolvia Obando has been subjected to several different violations of her rights, including aggression against her at the time of her arrest; harassment, threats, and severe indignities, including  sexual humiliation; defamation and stigmatization from police authorities and news agencies. Both charge that the Las Galileas Women’s Rural Movement is a criminal gang that “perpetrates both criminal and terroristic activities against the civilian population and strategic infrastructure of the country.” These same news agencies have identified Nolvia as the leader of organized crime.

Likewise, serious irregularities and violations of due process of law have been committed by the First Court of Appeals in La Ceiba, which issued a resolution that rejected the legal defense of Nolvia on June 15, 2023 and took for granted that  Nolvia Obando did usurp the lands despite the fact that the plaintiff had failed to establish the geographic space that was supposedly taken over. 

These violations are compounded by the arbitrary position of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, which despite having failed to perform the corresponding enquiries, has decided to uphold the case against Nolvia despite a lack of evidence against her.  Due to such irregularities, Nolvia’s legal defense presented a protective order which was only processed a year later.   This unjustified delay, which has resulted in the fact that a final ruling has not been made, prolongs the  uncertainty  experienced by  Nolvia and constitutes yet another form of violence. A June 12th  hearing on previous evidence submitted will be followed by the opening of an oral and public trial. 

We of the National Network of Women Human Rights Defenders in Honduras and IM-Defensoras call on the Supreme Court of Justice, through its Constitutional Chamber, to order an immediate resolution to the case presented by Nolvia’s defense, thereby avoiding that she continue to be subjected to an unjust judicial process that has violated her procedural rights and guarantees and also done harm to her personal, emotional, and mental integrity.  

The systematic persecution and aggressions against Nolvia Obando are unjust and unreasonable. Nolvia is innocent and has always been so. We condemn the criminalization against her and the abuse of power by the institutions of justice. 

We call on organizations of the social movement and human rights organizations, as well as the national and international communities to stay abreast of the developments in this judicial case unjustly brought against Nolvia Obando, and, above all, to accompany and stand in solidarity with her and the members of the Las Galileas Women’s Rural Movement.