Three years and two trials later, the murderers of sea turtle conservationist Jairo Mora were convicted in Límon, Costa Rica yesterday. Four of the accused men were found guilty of the May 2013 murder of 26-year-old Mora and the kidnapping and robbery of four foreign women volunteers who were with Mora. The other three men accused were cleared of all charges. Sentences ranged from 74 to 90 years but the guilty men will serve only 50 years, the maximum sentence allowed under Costa Rican law. A sexual assault charge was dropped due to lack of evidence pinpointing who did it. The murder and assault happened at Moín Beach on Costa Rica’s northeast Caribbean coast.
Source: The Tico Times
At the time of his death, Mora was working as a sea turtle monitor for the conservation group Widecast …. Mora had gained a reputation on the beach as a vocal advocate against turtle egg poaching, earning himself enemies among the beach’s poaching gangs.
Despite receiving numerous threats from poachers, Mora and four foreign female volunteers headed to the beach on the night of May 30, 2013 in hopes of catching a glimpse of a leatherback sea turtle. On their way back to the rescue center where they worked, their car was overtaken by a group of men in masks.
The attackers beat Mora and threw him in the trunk of the conservationists’ car before taking the women to an abandoned house and sexually assaulting at least one of them. The men then took Mora to the beach where they stripped him, beat him and dragged him behind a car in the sand.
After the first trial resulted in acquittal the United Nation’s mission in Costa Rica and many conservation organizations protested, saying the prosecutors mishandled and withheld evidence. One year later, a new trial was scheduled and the initial acquittal nullified. (How this is possible under Costa Rica law is explained in the Tico Times article 5 things to know about the new Jairo Mora murder trial.)
After the initial acquittal, U.N. independent expert on human rights and the environment John Knox spoke at a press conference praising Costa Rica’s commitment to environmental protection, and pointing out increasing criminal threats to conservation groups and individuals.
“It’s not the task of social organizations, civil society or citizens to put their own lives at risk to protect the environment. These are police functions that have to be adequately carried out by the government,” Knox said. “It’s one thing to protect turtle eggs from tourists, it’s another to protect them from poachers.”
Sea turtle conservation is an important issue on the Caribbean and Pacific coasts of Costa Rica. The area where Moín worked is among the most important areas for green sea turtle nesting in the Western Hemisphere. On both Pacific and Caribbean coasts, local people (Ticos) traditionally use the adult turtle for meat and harvest eggs laid by the turtles to sell in the markets (turtle eggs are a delicacy). The eggs are considered aphrodisiac by some people, and also consumed as religious observations, especially in the weeks before Easter when sea turtles are coming ashore to dig holes in the beach and bury eggs. Other parts of the turtle, oil, cartilage, skin and shell, are used. Sea turtles gained some protection in the 1970’s, which limited their sale for food and prohibited importation of tortoiseshell items into the U.S.
Both coastlines of Costa Rica (as well as Mexico and other Latin American countries) also are used by drug traffickers. A more comprehensive explanation of sea turtle conservation in this part of Costa Rica, poaching, and risks faced by conservationists was reported by the Tico Times in Why Jairo died.