determining factor in increasing their exposure to crimes, whether at the hands of the police or of members of the public.”23 Most arbitrary detentions of trans women sex workers occur during encounters with police and military personnel who seek sexual services from them and then refuse to pay.24 17. The IACHR has found that in most cases, the victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity or expression are completely disregarded in the investigation, despite their potential usefulness in identifying possible motives or suspects. In other instances, such discriminatory assumptions or prejudice may also lead to an abandonment or unsuccessful conclusion of the investigation, or may even prevent there being any investigation at all.25 According to Human Rights Watch, “[p]rejudices within law enforcement agencies may lead to bias in police investigations of crimes against transgender people. Investigative independence may also be at risk when the perpetrators are members of the police force.26 18. The IACHR noted that “defenders of the human rights of trans persons are in a situation of extreme vulnerability to suffering violence by state and non-state actors, as a reprisal for their human rights activism and the carrying out of sex work. Trans women human rights defenders are ... subjected to arbitrary arrest, extortion and threats from police officers.” 27 This context is relevant, given that, as is described hereinbelow, Vicky Hernández, was a defender of the human rights of trans persons. 2. General context of the coup and violations of the rights of LGBT people 19. On June 28, 2009, the democratically elected president was overthrown in Honduras and the constitutional order, interrupted.28 In relation to that, the IACHR reported that “violations of the rights to life, humane treatment, freedom of assembly and association, personal liberty, judicial guarantees, freedom of expression, political rights, the rights of women and the rights of minority groups were exacerbated by the absence of democratic institutions capable of processing complaints, investigating facts, punishing those responsible and making reparations to the victims.”29 The interruption of the constitutional order caused by the coup d’état “was coupled with a heavy military presence in various areas of civilian life, suspension of guarantees with enforcement of curfews, and the ineffectiveness of judicial remedies in safeguarding people’s fundamental rights.”30 The IACHR concluded that repeated curfews, the militarization, the primacy of military power over civilian power, and the inefficacy of the judicial mechanisms, all placed the entire population in a defenseless situation, which created a favorable climate for the perpetration of human rights violations.31 20. Since the coup d’état in Honduras, the IACHR32 and the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders33 have found that LGBT persons were among the groups suffering severe violence in Honduras.34 The Special Rapporteur indicated that the persistence of such acts could indicate a pattern of hate crimes, primarily committed by the police and private security guards.35 CEJIL conducted a study that analyzed the rise in killings and concluded that the coup generated a general climate of violence and insecurity and marked a tipping point in terms of a worsening of crimes against life of members of the LGBT population. In terms of statistics, it stated that by "late 2009, the documented figures for such acts were double those of 2008, three times as high as those of 2007, and exponentially higher than the numbers for previous years, such CEJIL, Diagnosis of hate crimes motivated by sexual orientation and gender identity: Costa Rica, Honduras and Nicaragua, San José, Costa Rica, 2013, p. 120 (in Spanish only). 24 Human Rights Watch, “Not Worth a Penny Human,” Human Rights Abuses against Transgender People in Honduras, 2009, p. 10. 25 IACHR, Violence against LGBTI Persons, OAS/Ser.L/V/II.rev.2, November 12, 2015, par. 484. 26 Human Rights Watch, “Not Worth a Penny Human,” Human Rights Abuses against Transgender People in Honduras, 2009. 27 IACHR, Preliminary Observations concerning the Human Rights Situation in Honduras, December 5, 2014. 28 IACHR, Honduras: Human Rights and the Coup d’État, OEA/Ser.L/V/II, December 30, 2009. 29 IACHR, Honduras: Human Rights and the Coup d’État, OEA/Ser.L/V/II, December 30, 2009, par. 14. 30 IACHR, Honduras: Human Rights and the Coup d’État, OEA/Ser.L/V/II, December 30, 2009, par. 22. 31 IACHR, Honduras: Human Rights and the Coup d’État, OEA/Ser.L/V/II, December 30, 2009, par. 164. 32 IACHR, Honduras: Human Rights and the Coup d’État, OEA/Ser.L/V/II, Doc. 55, December 30, 2009, pars. 10, 198, 206 and 265. 33 United Nations, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Margaret Sekaggya, Addendum, Mission to Honduras, A/HRC/22/47/Add.1. December 13, 2012, par. 90. 34 IACHR, Violence against LGBTI Persons, OAS/Ser.L/V/II.rev.2, November 12, 2015, par. 141. 35 United Nations, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Margaret Sekaggya, Addendum, Mission to Honduras, A/HRC/22/47/Add.1. December 13, 2012, par. 90. 23