“...extremely concerned about an apparent new trend of targeting public prosecutors in Central America, apparently by organized crime groups. Over the past week, public prosecutors have been murdered in both Guatemala and Honduras in the course of their duties, amid growing insecurity and violence in both countries.” This is first part of Statement issued by the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights and continues below. “On 24 May in Guatemala, Allan Stwolinsky, local auxiliary prosecutor in Coban (Department of Alta Verapaz) was found decapitated in a plastic bag in front of the governor's house. Both the Attorney-General and the Minister of the Interior blamed the murder on the Mexican drug cartel “Los Zetas” and linked it to the seizure of 453 kilograms of cocaine, which had been coordinated by the auxiliary prosecutor. This killing took place in the aftermath of the brutal massacre of 27 land workers in Peten, allegedly also by “Los Zetas”. We have expressed our support to the Attorney-General and expressed concern about the possible intention of “Los Zetas” to spread terror among the inhabitants of Coban and undermine the Attorney-General's efforts to combat crime and impunity. In Honduras, on 28 May, Raul Reyes Carbajal, a public prosecutor in the city of San Pedro Sula, was gunned down by several armed men who shot at him from another vehicle as he was driving home from work. According to eyewitness reports, after Mr Reyes was hit in his car, he lost control and crashed into a bus. His attackers then got out of their vehicle and shot him again, to make sure he was dead. The Criminal Investigation Police discarded theft as a motive. Mr Reyes had been coordinator of the Regional Public Prosecutor's office in Puerto Cortes for one month, and had previously been coordinator of the Special Unit against Organised Crime. The killing comes at a time when the Human Rights Unit of the Public Prosecutor's office in San Pedro Sula had decided to investigate the killings of seven youth, reportedly linked to gangs, during a police operation a few days earlier. The increasing vulnerability of human rights defenders in both of these countries has been of extreme concern. In Guatemala, in 2010 alone, 250 human rights defenders were victims of attacks and eight were killed, as noted in the High Commissioner’s report to the Human Rights Council. In Honduras, OHCHR has also been increasingly concerned about the situation of human rights defenders, journalists and members and activists of the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community.” Related Reports at “War Crimes Justice” Channel - diplomaticallyincorrect.org/c/war-crimes-justice By Ambassador Muhamed Sacirbey Facebook Become Fan at “Bosnia TV” and “Diplomatically Incorrect” Twitter – Follow us at DiplomaticallyX