16
V
89.
The Commission presented testimony and documentary evidence to show that there were
many kidnappings and disappearances in Honduras from 1981 to 1984 and that those acts were
attributable to the Armed Forces of Honduras (hereinafter "Armed Forces"), which was able to rely
at least on the tolerance of the Government. Three officers of the Armed Forces testified on this
subject at the request of the Court.
90.
Various witnesses testified that they were kidnapped, imprisoned in clandestine jails and
tortured by members of the Armed Forces (testimony of Inés Consuelo Murillo, José Gonzalo
Flores Trejo, Virgilio Carías, Milton Jiménez Puerto, René Velásquez Díaz and Leopoldo Aguilar
Villalobos).
91.
Inés Consuelo Murillo testified that she was secretly held for approximately three months.
According to her testimony, she and José Gonzalo Flores Trejo, whom she knew casually, were
captured on March 13, 1983 by men who got out of a car, shouted that they were from
Immigration and hit her with their weapons. Behind them was another car which assisted in the
capture. She said she was blindfolded, bound, and driven presumably to San Pedro Sula, where
she was taken to a secret detention center. There she was she was tied up, beaten, kept nude
most of the time, not fed for many days, and subjected to electrical shocks, hanging, attempts to
asphyxiate her, threats of burning her eyes, threats with weapons, burns on the legs, punctures
of the skin with needles, drugs and sexual abuse. She admitted carrying false identification when
detained, but ten days later she gave them her real name. She stated that thirty-six days after
her detention she was moved to a place near Tegucigalpa, where she saw military officers (one of
whom was Second Lt. Marco Tulio Regalado Hernández), papers with an Army letterhead, and
Armed Forces graduation rings. This witness added that she was finally turned over to the police
and was brought before a court. She was accused of some twenty crimes, but her attorney was
not allowed to present evidence and there was no trial (testimony of Inés Consuelo Murillo).
92.
Lt. Regalado Hernández said that he had no knowledge of the case of Inés Consuelo
Murillo, except for what he had read in the newspaper (testimony of Marco Tulio Regalado
Hernández).
93.
The Government stated that it was unable to inform Ms. Murillo's relatives of her detention
because she was carrying false identification, a fact which also showed, in the Government's
opinion, that she was not involved in lawful activities and was, therefore, not telling the whole
truth. It added that her testimony of a casual relationship with José Gonzalo Flores Trejo was not
credible because both were clearly involved in criminal activities.
94.
José Gonzalo Flores Trejo testified that he and Inés Consuelo Murillo were kidnapped
together and taken to a house presumably located in San Pedro Sula, where his captors
repeatedly forced his head into a trough of water until he almost drowned, kept his hands and
feet tied, and hung him so that only his stomach touched the ground. He also declared that,
subsequently, in a place where he was held near Tegucigalpa, his captors covered his head with a
"capucha" (a piece of rubber cut from an inner tube, which prevents a person from breathing
through the mouth and nose), almost asphyxiating him, and subjected him to electric shocks. He
said he knew he was in the hands of the military because when his blindfold was removed in order
to take some pictures of him, he saw a Honduran military officer and on one occasion when they
took him to bathe, he saw a military barracks. He also heard a trumpet sound, orders being given
and the report of a cannon (testimony of José Gonzalo Flores Trejo).
95.
The Government argued that the testimony of the witness, a Salvadoran national, was not
credible because he attempted to convince the Court that his encounters with Inés Consuelo