Juan Orlando Hernandez faces drug trafficking and weapons expenses after being extradited to the United States this week.
Published On 22 Apr 2022
Ragged Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez has made his first look in US court docket after being extradited to the nation to face drug trafficking and weapons expenses.
Hernandez, 53, seemed through video hyperlink in federal court docket in Fresh York on Friday. He became no longer required to enter a plea, and his lawyers did no longer quiz bail for him however stated they’d produce so at a later date, the AFP data agency reported.
A US think space a Also can just 10 arraignment hearing for Hernandez, where he’ll be formally requested whether he pleads guilty or no longer.
Hernandez became extradited on Thursday afternoon from the Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa, on a US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) plane plug for the US.
That very same day, US federal authorities unsealed an indictment in opposition to the aged president, accusing him of collaborating in a “unfriendly and violent drug-trafficking conspiracy to facilitate the importation of a lot of of hundreds of kilograms of cocaine into the United States”.
He’s accused of having facilitated the smuggling of some 500 tonnes of cocaine – basically from Colombia and Venezuela – to the US through Honduras since 2004, starting lengthy sooner than his presidency.
In flip, he obtained “millions of bucks in bribes … from diverse narcotrafficking organizations in Honduras, Mexico and other areas”, US prosecutors whine, together with roughly $1m from Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.
Nonetheless the ex-president, who served two terms between 2014 and January 2022, has maintained that he’s innocent. He misplaced his immunity from prosecution when he handed vitality over to Honduras’s first female president, Xiomara Castro, in January.
A ruling by the Honduran Supreme Courtroom in unhurried March cleared the methodology for Hernandez to be extradited to face expenses in a Fresh York court docket.
The US Justice Division stated in an announcement on Thursday that Hernandez – once considered as a key US ally in the battle on treatment – “became allegedly paid millions of bucks in cocaine proceeds which he frail to increase himself, finance his political campaigns, and commit voter fraud while the people of Honduras endured stipulations of poverty and rampant violence”.
The US indictment charged Hernandez with three counts of drug and weapons offences that might maybe land him a long time in detention heart if convicted.
Damian Williams, the US prison professional for the Southern District of Fresh York, stated throughout a data conference on Thursday evening that Hernandez became furious about “rampant corruption and broad cocaine trafficking” that spurred violence in Honduras.
“Honduras grew to change into one of the most necessary violent countries on the planet throughout the defendant’s presidency, and while Hernandez accumulated money and political impact, the people of Honduras endured stipulations of poverty and violence,” he stated.
Hernandez has denied the allegations. In a video message released Thursday, he stated: “I’m innocent; I were and I’m being unjustly subjected to prosecution.”
Source
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Al Jazeera and data companies