LGBT+ community activists are urging the Northern District Attorney’s Office to drop the case file for “Estrellita,” the transgender woman murdered at the end of July, so that the Specialized Women’s Prosecutor’s Office can investigate the case as a transfemicide.
“Estrellita” as her friends knew her, was found dead on Tuesday, July 30; the cause of death was asphyxiation by strangulation and she was in an advanced state of decomposition, in addition to stab wounds to various parts of her body.
The body is still in the Forensic Medical Service (Semefo) as it has not been officially recognized by its loved ones, due to being of foreign nationality, reported
LGBT activist Nasho Díaz said that as a group they are unaware of the status of the investigation file, since they are not direct family members and are not allowed to know its content.
“The social family or us as activists are not informed about the status of the investigation file there in the State Attorney General’s Office (FGE). We are thinking of writing an official letter to request that information be given to the social family or in this case to the activists who are the ones seeking justice out of respect for gender identities in the cases of trans women murdered in this border area,” she said.
When the body was removed from the house located on Marfil and Calcopyrita streets in the Libertad neighborhood, police reported a lifeless male wearing women’s clothing.
“Gaby Cota, spokesperson for the Northern District Prosecutor’s Office, told us that the violent death would be handled by the Northern District Prosecutor’s Office as a male homicide, however, what is intended is for it to be investigated as a transfemicide,” said Díaz.
“Transfemicide must be resolved,” the activist demanded.
“The fact that she was a murdered trans woman, who is of Honduran nationality and not Venezuelan as some media outlets have reported, always raises objections. She has to be classified as a woman, if the murder covers everything that the criminal type says as femicide in article 126 Bis, then it should be classified as transfemicide,” she stressed.
He said that it is a major task for the State Congress to legislate to favor these communities and to be precise when it comes to hate crimes or crimes based on gender identity.
The investigation file remains under the supervision of the Crimes Against Life Unit, FZN personnel confirmed yesterday afternoon.
#Urge #investigate #death #transfemicide
