Honduras orders trial for former Tocoa mayor in activist murder case

A Honduran court has ordered an oral and public trial against the former mayor of Tocoa, Adán Fúnez Martínez, and two other men accused of being the intellectual authors behind the murder of environmentalist and former municipal councilman Juan Antonio López.

The crime occurred on September 14, 2024, in the department of Colón. The prosecution has charged the three defendants—Fúnez Martínez, Juan Ángel Ramos Gallegos, and Héctor Eduardo Méndez—with murder and criminal association.

The trial is scheduled to take place in 2027 at the National Court of Sentencing with Jurisdiction in Matters of Organized Crime, Environment, and Corruption, located in Tegucigalpa. The judicial resolution follows a preliminary hearing held on October 1, where the court determined there was sufficient evidence to proceed to trial.