Date: 01 February 2006
Alfredo Lopez Alvarez, a leader within the Afro-descendant community of Honduras, was arrested and detained on suspicion of drug trafficking. He was a passenger in a car pulled over and searched for drugs. Cocaine, marijuana and crack cocaine were found and tested on the scene. He was detained and coerced into a confession, despite claims from his community of a police set-up to silence his human rights activities. He was held in pre-trial detention for almost 6 years. A secondary test later contradicted the purity of the substances. Combined with generally poor prison conditions and restrictions of essential freedoms including dignity and expression, the Court held Honduras to be in violation of freedom of expression and freedom from inhuman treatment alongside the procedural violations of fair trial and right to effective judicial remedies.
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