NAME OF MECHANISM

United States civil lawsuit: Reyes v. López Grijalba

PERIOD

15 July 2002 – 31 March 2006

RESOURCES

District court final judgment [31 Mar 2006]

RESULTS

On 31 March 2006, Judge Joan A. Lenard of the Southern Florida district court in the United States found former Honduran military intelligence chief Juan López Grijalba responsible for torture, extrajudicial killings and disappearances. She ordered López Grijalba to pay US$47 million to the six plaintiffs, all survivors or victims of a unit under López Grijalba’s command.

BACKGROUND

In 2002, the United States-based Center for Justice and Accountability (CJA) filed a case against López Grijalba before a United States district court under the Alien Tort Statute and the Torture Victim Protection Act on behalf of Oscar and Gloria Reyes, Ricardo and Zenaida Velásquez, the son and sister of Manfredo Velásquez, and Martha Madisson and Karen Burgos, sisters of disappeared university student Hans Madisson. CJA argued that López Grijalba either encouraged or allowed acts of torture, disappearance and extrajudicial killing to be perpetrated by his subordinates under the command responsibility doctrine.

López Grijalba was living in the United States until April 2002, when he was detained by the Immigration and Naturalization Service. CJA filed the civil case against him soon after his arrest. In October 2004, López Grijalba was deported to Honduras after being denied protected status for his role as a persecutor under the former regime [CJA].

SOURCES

[Center for Justice and Accountability]