The seven men charged with the gruesome murder of environmental activist Jairo Mora Sandoval, who was killed while exercising his passion of protecting the sea turtles that massively arrive in Costa Rica during their nesting season, have been cleared of homicide. The murder occurred in late May 2013, and an organized gang of sea turtle poachers was believed to be behind the crime.

According to a report filed by Fabio Mena of online news daily CRHoy.com, the Criminal Tribunal of Limón cleared seven suspects off the murder charges. The seven men were identified and arrested by agents from the Office of Judicial Investigations (Spanish initials: OIJ) about two months after the lifeless body of Jairo Mora was found in the small beach town of Moín, located in the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica and north of the main city of Limón.

The last names of the freed suspects are:

• Arauz
• Cash
• Centeno
• Delgado
• Quesada
• Salmon (two brothers)

In addition to the murder charges, some of the suspects were also charged with sexually assaulting female volunteers who accompanied the 26-year old Jairo Mora on his nightly beach patrols, which protected sea turtles and their nests from poachers. The sexual assault charges were also stricken from the record as the seven men were found to be not guilty of murder.

The Salmon brothers as well as their co-defendants Centeno, Quesada and Cash will remain in custody as they must answer to robbery and kidnapping charges that took place one week prior to the murder of Jairo Mora. Although 26 witnesses were served subpoenas to appear and provide details on how the young biologist was beaten, tied to a moving car, dragged around, and later asphyxiated, the Tribunal judges pointed out several flaws in the way the case was handled by prosecutors and forensic officers.

As previously reported by The Costa Rica Star:

Paul Watson -the Canadian founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, star of reality TV show Whale Wars and international fugitive- christened a new Sea Shepherd vessel the “Jairo Mora” and also pledged $30,000 towards the reward for information that will bring the murderers to justice. This is not surprising to those who know Watson, a man who prefers to take direct action.

In the southern region of the Limón province, not far from Puerto Viejo, the Gandoca-Manzanillo National Wildlife Refuge is named after Jairo Mora in memoriam. This pristine refuge was Jairo’s favorite place in Costa Rica. Operation Pacuare, a sea turtle conservancy effort organized by Sea Shepherd, seeks to continue the good work of Jairo.