the later appearance of symptoms, undermining individual, family, and even social life, and
impairing financial prospects.” She stressed, “[i]nterviews revealed a powerful impact on
family dynamics due to the persistent threats against family members in a setting of organized
state violence that persisted over time.” She added, “[t]he trauma has affected members of
several generations, becoming intergenerational.” The expert witness concluded, saying:
members of the Deras family are suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome, serious
depression and generalized anxiety because of the damage done, with its long-term
individual, family, and intergenerational after-effects. This damage was intensified because,
since the time of the incidents—persecution and the murder of Herminio Deras—the justice
system in Honduras did not impart justice, and the case has remained in impunity. There is
exhaustion, discouragement, frustration, and feelings of helplessness because of the slow
pace in the search for justice. There is emotional pain due to grief over the violent loss of
Herminio Deras, the suicide of Domingo Deras, and the deaths of Héctor Deras and Consuelo
Deras, all of them correlated as a direct consequence that this case had for the members of
the family.
86.
Considering all this, the Court concludes that the State of Honduras is responsible for
violating the right to personal integrity, the right to personal liberty, the right to protection of
honor, dignity, and privacy, rights of the family, the rights of the child and the right to
property, set forth in Articles 5(1), 5(2), 7(1), 7(2), 7(3), 11(1), 11(2), 17(1), 19 and 21 of
the American Convention, read in conjunction with Article 1(1) thereof, in injury of 16
members of the family of Herminio Deras García. 77
87.
The Court finds that Héctor García and Alba Luz Deras García experienced forced exile
because of the persecution and threats against their brother Herminio Deras García, their
family, and specifically, against themselves. Héctor García was therefore forced to leave his
country and his family, including his small children, while Alba Deras García, who was living
abroad, was unable to return to Honduras for the same reason. The Court finds that the State
of Honduras violated the right to freedom of movement and residence set forth in Article
22(1) of the Convention, read in conjunction with Article 1(1) thereof, in injury of Héctor
García and Alba Luz Deras García.
88.
The Court confirms that 26 years elapsed from the time of the extrajudicial execution
of Herminio Deras García until the final, unappealable conviction of Marco Tulio Regalado, and
seven more years passed before he began to serve his sentence. It notes that this delay in
prosecuting the criminal case can be attributed to state authorities. It also notes that the
investigation was never extended to the other two suspects in the death of Herminio Deras
García. Moreover, the State failed to acceptably honor its obligations to investigate and
prosecute with due diligence. As an example, it did not conduct an autopsy of Deras García’s
body and did not preserve the scene of the crime. It is also clear that there was no
investigation whatsoever of the events associated with the arbitrary detentions of Deras
García’s family members, the acts of torture, mistreatment, raids on their homes, and seizure
or destruction of their possessions. For all these reasons, the State is responsible for violating
the right to judicial guarantees and judicial protection, enshrined in Articles 8(1) and 25 of
the American Convention, read in conjunction with Article 1(1) thereof, in injury of the 17
members of the Herminio Deras García family identified in paragraph 94 of this judgment.
77
Otilia Flores Ortiz, Lorena Deras Flores, Herminio Deras Flores, Eustaquia García Alvarado, Domingo Deras
Henríquez, Irma Isabel Deras García, Consuelo Deras García, Luis Rolando Deras García, Héctor García, Marlen García
Pineda, José Herminio García, Sandra Ivón Hernández Deras, Marlon Javier García Barahona, Julio Cesar Chavarría
Banegas, Elba Flores Ortiz, and Cristóbal Rufino Hernández Pérez. The only family member not held as a victim of
these specific violations is Herminio Deras García’s sister, Alba Luz Deras García, because she was outside the country
in forced exile at the time (supra para. 87), such that she was not subject to the raids on the family homes, the
arbitrary detentions, torture and other declared violations.