CASE N° HOND/02 - MIGUEL ANGEL PAVON SALAZAR - HONDURAS

Resolution adopted without a vote by the Inter-Parliamentary Council
at its 164th session (Brussels, 16 April 1999)

The Inter-Parliamentary Council,

Referring to the outline of the case, as contained in the report of the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians (CL/164/13(b)-R.1), and to the resolution adopted at its 163rd session (September 1998) concerning the case of Mr. Miguel Angel Pavón Salazar, of Honduras,

Recalling that Mr. Pavón Salazar was shot dead on 14 January 1988; that the judicial investigations which established a link between his murder and evidence he gave in October 1987 before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights concerning " disappearances " in Honduras came to a standstill until, in 1994, the Honduran National Commissioner for Human Rights published a report concluding that the investigations had not been carried out properly, thereby causing oversight of the investigation to be entrusted to the Special Prosecutor for Human Rights; that after having long remained unproductive, the judicial investigation was relaunched on 4 July 1996 by the Criminal Investigation Branch (DIC) of the Prosecutor General's Office, bringing new evidence to light,

Recalling that in April 1998 the Court of San Pedro Sula issued arrest warrants against the presumed culprits, Colonel Mario Asdrubal Quiñones and Sergeant-Major Jaime Rosales, and that the former has been in preventive detention in the 105th Infantry Brigade since 28 April 1998, whereas an arrest warrant could not be served on the latter since he is living in the United States of America,

Recalling the decisive role of the National Congress of Honduras in relaunching and activating the investigation, for which it paid tribute to that Parliament,

Noting that the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians, at its 84th session (February 1999), adjourned examination of this case in view of the emergency situation in Honduras caused by Hurricane Mitch,

1. Requests the Secretary General to resume contact with the Honduran authorities with a view to ascertaining whether any progress has meanwhile been made in the relevant investigation;
2. Requests the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians to continue examining the case and report to it at its next session (October 1999).

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