UVA TODAY — In a case brought to light by the International Human Rights Clinic at the University of Virginia School of Law, the Supreme Court of Honduras in February overturned the convictions of six environmental activists that drew the ire of the international community. In 2018, eight environmental activists in Guapinol were arrested after setting up a camp to protest an iron ore mining project in Carlos Escaleras National Park that threatened the village’s water supply. The mining company’s allied security forces instigated violence against the protesters, yet prosecutors charged the protesters themselves with an assortment of crimes, including alleged acts of violence. “The innocent defendants spent more than two years in pretrial detention while the prosecutor had no proof of their culpability for the crimes of which they were accused,” said Professor Camilo Sánchez, the clinic’s director. In September 2020, the clinic published a report detailing the factual background of the case and provided a legal analysis of the situation, the history of violence and harassment of human rights defenders in Honduras. At the time, this was the first report by an international organization on the case, according to Sánchez, and the report brought the issue to the attention of other international organizations and governments.