Cesario Alejandro Félix PADILLA FIGUEROA

On 7 May 2024, the Court of Criminal Appeals of Francisco Morazán ordered the final dismissal of charges against Cesario Alejandro Félix Padilla Figueroa and his fellow students Sergio Ulloa and Moisés Cáceres. They had been found guilty of the crime of ‘illegal detention of public property’ and faced nearly a decade of rights restrictions and prosecution in retaliation for exercising their freedom of expression (see Case Lists 2017 to 2020 and 2022 – 2023/2024). 

Journalist, author, editor, student leader, and board member of PEN Honduras Cesario Alejandro Félix Padilla Figueroa, born on November 1992, refused to pay a fine, imposed in 2020 for ‘illegal detention of public property’, as he denied having committed the alleged crime. As a result, he faced a sentence of three years in prison, forced labour while in prison, suspension of his rights and payment for alleged damages that the authorities of the National Autonomous University of Honduras (UNAH) claim. PEN International believes that Padilla Figueroa was targeted for exercising his rights to freedom of expression and assembly. According to reports, the charge brought against Padilla Figueroa is alleged ‘usurpation’ of UNAH property. 

PEN International campaigned on behalf of Padilla Figueroa for almost a decade and called for reparations for him and his fellow students after the final ruling. 

Cesario Padilla Figueroa is the editor of the book Carcelaria and author of Un pasito adelante, aproximación historica del Comité Coordinador de Organizaciones Populares de Honduras (CCOP) (A little step forward, historical approach of the Coordinating Committee of Popular Organisations of Honduras [CCOP]).