11 was deposited in the Court. He is sure that drugs were found at the moment of Mr. López Álvarez’s arrest, according to the field tests carried out on both packages, and he ignores what could have happened later with that evidence. d) Álvaro Raúl Cerrato Arias, Supernumerary Judge of First Instance of the City of Tela, Department of Atlántida in the year 1997 He examined the case opened against Messrs. Alfredo López Álvarez, Sunny Loreto Cubas, and Luis Ángel Acosta Vargas, begun for the commission of the crime of trafficking drugs and narcotics in detriment of the health of the population of Honduras. The trial against the accused was carried out within the legal parameters in force at the time of its processing. He stated that from the time of the arrest of the accused up to April 28, 1998, date set for the incineration of the drugs, they were kept in a warehouse of the Court of First Instance of Tela. The Prosecutor of the Office of Public Prosecutor and representatives of other departments of the Office of the Public Prosecutor, of the National Police, of the Honduran Institute for the Prevention and Treatment of Alcoholism and Drug Addiction, as well as members of the press were summoned to presence the incineration of the substance. At that time the expert assessment was carried out again and the results stated that they were another innocuous substance. Since the process was in full trial, the defense counsel of the accused presented evidence to exhaust the proceeding. He did not know of the further development of the case, because he presented his irrevocable resignation due to health reasons. B) TESTIMONIAL EVIDENCE AND EXPERT ASSESSMENT 40. On the 28th and 29th days of June 2005 the Court received in a public hearing the statements of the witnesses proposed by the Inter-American Commission and the representatives and the opinion of the expert proposed by the representatives (supra paras. 19 and 25). Below, the Tribunal summarizes the relevant parts of said statements. Statements 1) Proposed by the Commission and the representatives a) Gregoria Flores Martínez, former President of OFRANEH She pointed out that the Honduran Garifuna community has had to undertake a fight to defend their lands, this because since 1990 the expansion of the urban area of the municipal mayoralties lead to a process of the sale of lands to businessmen, which has lead to harassments and violations of human rights in the community; for example: the destruction of the crops and the burning of coconut cultivations, thus forcing the abandonment of those lands, the murder of 52 Indian and Black leaders accused of seizing the land, arrest warrants, and processes against colleagues, and threats to Alfredo López Álvarez so he would stop the actions of the defense of the lands he was leading as president of the CODETT, of the Board of Directors of OFRANEH, and as coordinator of the unit of Garifuna boards of the sector of Tela (UPAGAT). She believes that the threats and attacks suffered by those members of the community are part of a State strategy to expel its communities from their lands. She was also a victim of