Honduras judge rules ex-president can be extradited to US on drug charges

A Honduran Supreme Court docket decide has dominated that former president Juan Orlando Hernández might be extradited to the US to face costs he took bribes from drug traffickers in trade for safeguarding them.

Police arrested Hernández at his residence within the capital Tegucigalpa final month, in response to a US extradition request that got here simply weeks after he left workplace. The previous president was named as a co-conspirator in a drug case in opposition to his brother, who was jailed final yr.

The US believes Hernández participated in a violent drug trafficking conspiracy for 18 years to ship cocaine to the US and take bribes. The previous chief has denied the fees.

Honduras has by no means rejected a US extradition request however some had raised doubts over whether or not the courtroom, whose judges have been appointed whereas Hernández was president, would grant this one.

The courtroom mentioned on Wednesday that Hernández would stay in custody. His lawyer Félix Ávila mentioned his shopper denied all the fees and would enchantment.

“Extradition is a brutal mirror that displays harmful criminals and a lifeless and corrupt justice system,” Gabriela Castellanos, director of the Nationwide Anticorruption Council, wrote in Spanish on Twitter. “That’s the picture we’re seeing revealed tonight.”

Hernández, who first got here to energy in 2014 however was unpopular at residence by the point his second time period ended, is the primary former Latin American chief to be arrested and face extradition to the US on drug trafficking costs.

Hernández had beforehand been lauded by US authorities officers as an ally, even whereas he was being investigated by prosecutors.

Voters within the Central American nation elected leftwing candidate Xiomara Castro as president in November, overwhelmingly rejecting Hernández’s conservative Nationwide social gathering.

Kamala Harris, the US vice-president, attended Castro’s inauguration, with many seeing the brand new authorities as a possible US accomplice.

Analysts have warned that drug cash has infiltrated deep into Honduran politics, main US prosecutors and plenty of native politicians to label the nation a “narco-state”.

“Very quickly we’ll welcome #coconspirator4 congratulations #Honduras,” US Congresswoman Norma Torres wrote in Spanish on Twitter following the courtroom’s ruling.

Castro took workplace in January and has vowed to be powerful on corruption and drug trafficking. The president has requested the UN to assist arrange an anti-graft fee within the nation.

The federal government has additionally taken emergency steps to attempt to put the nation’s public funds so as, officers mentioned.