On November 10, 2015, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (Court) ruled (judgment only available in Spanish) in Lopez Lone and others v. Honduras that the state had violated the American Convention on Human Rights (Convention) by disciplining and dismissing judges who spoke out against the coup d’état in 2009. The Court stressed that representative democracy is one of the pillars of the Convention as well as the Organization of American States and noted that the coup d’état violated international law. During this time, the judges took actions in defense of the rule of law and carried out their duties to defend the rule of law. They were dismissed from their positions for actions such as participating in demonstrations against the coup, publishing newspaper articles against the coup, and making comments against the coup to judicial colleagues. The Court found that these actions were protected by Articles 13 (freedom of thought and expression), 15 (right of assembly), and 23 (right to participate in government). The Court further found that the proceedings against the judges were not conducted by competent, impartial, and independent tribunals and thus violated Article 8 (right to a fair trial). Finally, the Court found that the principle of legality, arising out of Article 9 (freedom from ex post facto laws), in combination with Articles 1 (obligation to respect rights) and 2 (domestic legal effects), was violated by the excessive discretion in the assessment of sanctions (such as dismissing judges from their jobs), as well as the vagueness with which they were justified.