Honduran lawyer killed, 77th since 2010

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras – Assailants on motorbikes shot and killed a lawyer in Honduras, authorities said Wednesday, bringing to 77 the number of legal professionals killed in the crime-ridden country since 2010.

Dilmer Eleuterio Reyes and his brother Elvis were gunned down in his car Tuesday after being chased through the streets of San Pedro Sula, some 240 kilometers (150 miles) north of the capital Tegucigalpa, police said. Both men were killed.

The motive remains unclear.

Honduras has the world’s highest murder rate — 79 per 100,000 in 2013, according to monitors at its National University.

Reyes’ slaying brings to 77 the number of lawyers killed in the Central American country since record keeping began in 2010, according to the Human Rights Commission.

The Honduran Congress has a bill on its agenda aimed at protecting journalists and police, as well as lawyers, judges and prosecutors, but no date for consideration has been set.

“The police and others in the justice system must realize that lawyers are being threatened by common and organized crime that has no respect for anyone’s life,” Moises Morales, a representative of the Honduran Bar Association, told reporters.

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