in 2006, Heraldo Zúñiga and Roger Iván Cartagena, both members of the Olancho Environmental Movement (MAO for its Spanish acronym). From the information provided by the State, it is clear that people have been convicted of these crimes, though not all of those responsible have been captured nor have the intellectual authors been identified.”27 19. During the public hearing in this case, the expert Juan Antonio Mejía Guerra stated that “[t]he environment in Honduras emerge[d] as a topic […] of public interest beginning in the decade of [1980,] with the establishment of environmental organizations. The central issues were conservation, preservation, sustainable development and environmental education. The leaders of these environmental groups were usually […] university-educated professionals [.] During the decade of [1990], however, a new type of environmental leader emerged, [that] no longer [was] professionals with university degrees, but rather […] a community leader […] motivated [by] the Agricultural Modernization Law, [that] privatize[d] the land, […] increased deforestation of the forest resources [and] the presence […] of certain mining corporations […] with the new Mining Law approved in 1998[.]”28 20. In this regard, the Court notes that between 1991 and 2011, at least 16 environmentalists were killed in Honduras, five of them between 1991 and 1998, before the death of Carlos Luna López and 10 occurring after his death, between 2001 and 2011.29 It is worth pointing out that in the Olancho Province, subsequent to the death of Carlos Luna, eight more environmentalists were killed between 1998 and 2011. According to the testimony of expert Juan Antonio Mejía Guerra during the public hearing, these deaths “have in common the fact that they took place in places and among organizations and individuals who h[ad] direct confrontations with companies that had major economic interests either in the forests, the water, the land or the mines.”30 21. Based on the foregoing, the Court confirms that at the time of the death of Mr. Luna López, environmentalists in Honduras faced a situation of particular risk, which grew worse in the years following his death and during the investigation of the events. 22. Furthermore, the Court notes that, in a report in 2006, Hina Jilani, the former special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on Human Rights Defenders, expressed her 27 Case of Kawas Fernández, supra, para. 69. 28 Cf. Expert testimony of Mr. Juan Antonio Mejía Guerra during the public hearing held on February 7, 2013, before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. The expert provided, inter alia, the following documentary information: Frontline Defender. Honduras: Mr. Adalberto Figuero, human rights advocate, was murdered on May 14, 2010; Amnesty International Report 1995 – Honduras of January 1, 1995; Olancho Environmental Movement. Marching for life in Honduras, 2008, and Broad Front for Dignity and Justice. Juan de Jesús Figueroa murdered. Stop the harassment, threats and deaths of September 20, 2011. At the same time the expert referred to laws recently approved in Honduras related to forests, energy, mining and water issues. 29 Cf. Case of Kawas Fernández, supra, para. 69, plus the documentation and expert testimony of Mr. Juan Antonio Mejía Guerra offered at the public hearing before the Court, supra. In this regard, the Court noted that the deaths of Vicente Matute in the Province of Francisco Morazán in 1991 (Attachments to the expert opinion, page 8727); Jeannette Kawas in the Province of Atlántida in 1995; Carlos Escaleras in the Province of Yoro in 1996 (Case of Kawas Fernández, supra, para. 69); Cándido Amador in the Province of Copán in 1997 (Attachments to the expert opinion, page 8770); Silvano Mejía in 1997 (Attachments to the expert opinion, page 8749); Carlos Antonio Luna López in Olancho Province in 1998; Carlos Roberto Flores in Olancho Province in 2001 (annexes to the expert opinion, page 8808); José Mauricio Hernández Cáceres in Olancho Province in 2002 (Attachments to the expert opinion, page 8724); Carlos Ortiz in Olancho Province in 2003 (Transcript of public hearing, page 58); Carlos Arturo Reyes in Olancho Province in 2003 (Attachments to the expert opinion, page 8827); Germán Antonio Rivas in the Province of Copán in 2003 (Attachments to the expert opinion, page 8827); Heraldo Zúñiga and Roger Iván Cartagena, in Olancho Province in 2006 (Case of Kawas Fernández, supra, para. 69); Humbario Bifarro in Olancho Province in 2007 (Transcript of the public hearing, page 58); Adalberto Figueroa in Olancho Province in 2010 (Attachments to the expert opinion, page 8723), and Juan Figueroa in the Province of Atlántida in 2011 (Attachments to the expert opinion, page 8963). 30 Expert testimony of Mr. Juan Antonio Mejía Guerra at the public hearing before the Court, supra. 11