2017 a follow-up request was made to the Evidence Warehouse so that its laboratory might examine the evidence collected at the scene, including an apparently used condom and a bullet. It said in relation to the condom, that it had not been analyzed to determine if it contained genetic material because the genetic material could be lost if the packaging were opened and the evidence handled without there being any suspect. As regards the bullet, the State said that information on the current state of its analysis was being sought. 11. As to the rights to life and humane treatment, it said that it had not been demonstrated that the State, through its agents, had acted in contravention of the Convention. It considered that it was up to the petitioners to demonstrate the State's responsibility for the killing and that the fact that impunity precluded knowing who the culprits were did not mean that they were State agents and that “it is impossible for the State to control the free will of private citizens.” As to the rights to a fair trial and judicial protection, the State said that it had complied with inter-American standards as far as investigation was concerned and that it is obligation should not be considered unfulfilled simply because the investigation had not yielded satisfactory results. It said that one line of investigation sought to identify the person who had threatened the victim days prior to the events, according to their mother's statement. It said that inquiries into the involvement of State security organs were not being pursued. Finally, with regard to the right to equal protection, Honduras argued that the investigation had not produced sufficient reasonable evidence to believe that the case might have been a hate crime against LGBTI persons by agents of the State and that, moreover, in the course of the proceedings, the effort had been made to respect the victim's gender identity by referring to her by her trans woman's name. III. FINDINGS OF FACT A. CONTEXT 1. General context of discrimination and violence against LGBT persons in Honduras 12. The IACHR, the Office of the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, and the Office of the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women have stated that discrimination and violence against members of the LGBT community in Honduras has been cause for great concern in recent years. 4 Civil society organizations have informed the IACHR about the high number of murders of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans people in the country, saying that there is a “social environment ... of traditional discrimination against LGBT people, leading to violence motivated by prejudice.” 5 In January 2011, the United Nations Human Rights Council, in the context of its Universal Periodic Review, called on the State to respond to the increasingly worse situation of crimes against the LGBT population in the country.6 13. According to reports received by the IACHR, from 2009 to December 2014 there were 174 recorded violent killings of LGBT persons in the country, 69 of whom were trans.7 Between May 2003 and July 2012, CEJIL registered 214 crimes against LGBT persons, including violations of the right to life, violations of the right to humane treatment, rape, and violations of the right to personal liberty. It also noted that the cities of Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula were the most dangerous for LGBT people.8 Of the 214 crimes reported, it said that at least 127 were committed against "trans or transvestite" individuals, and that, of those, police were IACHR, Situation of Human Rights in Honduras, OEA/Ser.L/V/II, December 31, 2015, par. 130; United Nations, General Assembly, Extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Note by the Secretary-General, Doc. A/57/138, 2 July 2002; United Nations, Economic and Social Council, Report of Yakin Ertürk, Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, Doc. E/CN.4/2005/72/Add.1. 18 March 2005; Addendum - Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the situation of human rights in Honduras, A/HRC/37/3/Add.2. 5 IACHR, Situation of Human Rights in Honduras, OEA/Ser.L/V/II, December 31, 2015, pars. 130 and 132; IACHR, Press Release, Preliminary Observations concerning the Human Rights Situation in Honduras, December 5, 2014. 6 United Nations, General Assembly, Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review - Honduras, Doc. A/HRC/16/10, 4 January 2011. 7 IACHR, Situation of Human Rights in Honduras, OEA/Ser.L/V/II, December 31, 2015, par. 130. 8 CEJIL, Diagnosis of hate crimes motivated by sexual orientation and gender identity: Costa Rica, Honduras and Nicaragua, San José, Costa Rica, 2013, p. 128 (in Spanish only). 4