On August 30, two students from the Technical Institute of Honduras (ITH) were executed near their school in the capital city of Tegucigalpa, only hours after they joined a protest organised by a coalition opposing the government.

Gerson Meza was one of them. According to his classmates, the students disappeared after having participated in a demonstration calling for the reinstatement of a bus-pass, after the increase to the public service in Honduras. Hours later they were both found dead in the sector known as “La Montañita”.

ITH students had lead at least 12 demonstrations including blocking main roads. The national and military police repressed with tear gas. Both students Mario and Gerson had stood out during these protests.

The day after their murders, images of their kidnapping by alleged members of the Technical Agency of Criminal Investigation (ATIC) were leaked on social networks. The video shows several heavily armed men wearing hoods, gloves, bulletproof vests and shirts with the ATIC logo embroidered, taking the schoolboys handcuffed and forced them inside a black vehicle with no plates.

The two students were found dead still wearing the same clothes they wore when they were kidnapped and handcuffed.

The Forensic Medicine report revealed clear signs of torture “They were tied hand and foot, savagely tortured, beaten with clubs and killed with several headshots.” Both corpses had multiple wounds in the chest and the back.

Gerson’s mother told local media that the killers broke her son’s hands and legs, removed his eyeballs and cut off his nose.

The authorities have not clarified the murders. They have repeatedly denied that those responsible were ATIC agents.