27. For her part, Irma Deras stated that the others were constantly hit and kicked. She maintained: We did not identify anyone because we were blindfolded and tied, but we did when they released us we were in the Office of the Director of National Investigation and from there taken in army trucks to the air force base in Tegucigalpa. From there they sent us to the air force base in San Pedro Sula, and after that to the Court in El Progreso. 28. Irma Deras added that on several occasions they were interrogated by military personnel who asked "Where are the guns? What's the name of the guerrilla cell?" "How many times have you been to El Salvador?" They said that when they denied that information, they wiped mud in their faces. She maintained that they paid a "collective bond" and "thanks to pressure from family and grassroots organizations, they let us go."21 29. The petitioners reported that “for lack of proof, the detainees were released on parole (libertad provisional). The Commission notes that the State did not contest this information. Nor did it document any investigation of members of Mr. Deras' family for the crime of sedition. 30. In addition, the Commission takes note of the information provided by the petitioners regarding Mr. Deras' parents and two of his brothers, 22 which the State did not contest either. As regards Domingo Deras, Herminio's father, the petitioners declared as follows: Domingo Deras fell into a deep depression, and spoke to no one. His work as a builder and his blocks and mosaics factory went bankrupt, both because, nobody hired him because he was stigmatized and because he neglected it in order to comply with all the judicial requirements (...), He began to drink heavily and when he was drunk kept saying that "if I hadn't refused to swap cars, Herminio would be alive" and what a bad father he was. On June 12, 1987, when he was 72 years old, he sat down in a chair and shot himself in the head (...) and died a few minutes later. He left a note saying "Forgive me for not have been brave enough to defend you." 31. Regarding María Eustaquia García, Herminio's mother, the petitioners stated that: After the violent death of her son Herminio, she fell into deep depression, which triggered epileptic episodes, with constant fits, so that her health deteriorated, the family economy collapsed, her husband's construction business failed, and her son Héctor went into exile to save his own life. (…) Her husband's suicide made her even more depressive. Finally her health deteriorated so much that she never again left her bed. She died on May 22, 2010. 32. As for Mr. Deras’ brothers, the petitioners reported that in September 1984 Héctor Deras left the country to go to the United States. That was after his father Domingo had told him that he had heard from DNI agents of a plan to murder him. He explained that those agents had told him: "You already lost one son. Don't lose another." The petitioners reported that Héctor Deras died in 2010, one day after he had returned to Honduras to visit his mother. The Commission has no information the death of Héctor Deras. 33. Finally, the petitioners stated that Mr. Deras' sister, Alba Luz, had been studying in Romania since 1975. They said that "because of the current political situation and the persecution of her family" she had been unable to return to Honduras. The petitioners explained that Alba Luz did return to Honduras in 200o to work with the Catholic Church's Reflection Team and that in 2009, due to her functions in support of the "resistance process, she received message saying "we are going to screw you." D. The Criminal Proceeding 34. On July 30, 1998, the Public Prosecutors' Office filed a complaint against the following members of Battalion 3-16: Marco Tulio Regalado, Rafael Canales Núñez, and Alexander Raymundo Hernández Santos for the murder of Herminio Deras. The complaint described the situation in Honduras between 1980 and 1984, especially the persecution and subsequent extrajudicial execution of persons considered to pose a threat to the government at that time. The complaint also cited the testimony of Fausto Reyes regarding what had happened 21 22 Annex 1. Statement by Irma Isabel Deras García, on August 12, 1998. Attached to judicial file 7159-02. Communication from the petitioners, February 2, 2014. 6