Femicidio

Honduras, where a woman is killed every 32 hours, has approved sweeping Penal Code reforms raising femicide sentences to as high as 60 years and mandating specialized courts to handle gender-violence cases.

Elvia Mercedes Gómez, a nurse found dead in her San Manuel home in Cortés, is being investigated as a possible femicide, with her partner the main suspect; the death brings the toll of violent deaths of women in Honduras to at least 112 in 2026.

A bill before Congress would raise femicide sentences to 25–30 years (or 30–40 for aggravated cases), create specialized courts nationwide to handle gender-violence crimes, and broaden the legal definition of power imbalance between men and women.

Honduras's Supreme Court approved proposed reforms to femicide statutes and a law allowing release of terminally ill prisoners, offering technical observations for Congress to consider during legislative debate.

Five years after nursing student Keyla Martínez was killed in police custody, a retrial begins in August after the original conviction for involuntary homicide was overturned due to procedural irregularities; her mother and women's rights groups demand the case be reclassified as aggravated femicide and that the accused police officer face pretrial detention.

A Siguatepeque court began a retrial Thursday against former police officer Jarol Perdomo in the 2021 death of nursing student Keyla Martínez, after the Supreme Court annulled his 2024 conviction for negligent homicide — a charge prosecutors argued should have been aggravated femicide.