Honduras: Police Officer Sentenced for Stabbing Transgender Sex Worker

[Judi Lynn]

Honduras: Police Officer Sentenced for Stabbing Transgender Sex Worker
Rare Conviction Despite Intimidation a Victory for Justice
September 10, 2010

(Tegucigalpa) - The conviction of an off-duty police officer for a stabbing attack on a transgender woman is a major victory for justice and equal rights in Honduras, Human Rights Watch and Red Lésbica Cattrachas, a Honduran lesbian rights organization, said today. The two organizations attended the trial as observers.

On September 9, 2010, a three-judge bench sentenced the police officer, Amado Rodriguez Borjas, to 10 to 13 years in prison for his role in the attack. Nohelia, the transgender woman, was abducted and stabbed 17 times on December 18, 2008. It is the first conviction of a police officer in Honduras since 2003 for a crime against a transgender person, even though police abuse is common.

"This was a crime fueled by hate, as the 17 stab wounds attest," said Juliana Cano Nieto, researcher in the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights Program at Human Rights Watch. "It is a testament to the integrity and courage of all involved with the case that they advanced the cause of justice notwithstanding the threats and intimidation."

~snip~
Attacks on transgender people - often targeted because their looks and demeanor challenge prevailing sex-role stereotypes - are commonplace in Honduras.Nearly every transgender person who Human Rights Watch interviewed during research in Honduras in 2008 and 2009 spoke of harassment, beatings, and-ill treatment at the hands of police. The most recent killing took place on August 30. Two men in a motorcycle shot and killed Imperia Gamaniel Parson, a trangender sex worker in San Pedro Sula and member of the Colectivo Unidad Rosa.

More:
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/09/10/honduras-police-officer-sentenced-stabbing-transgender-sex-worker

[Downwinder]

1. Is this a start? One prosecution out of how many deaths?