Honduran prosecutor Johel Zelaya has issued an international arrest warrant for former President Juan Orlando Hernández, who was recently pardoned by US President Donald Trump. That’s what Zelaya writes on X.
“We have been hurt by the tentacles of corruption and by the criminal networks that have deeply scarred life in our country,” Zelaya wrote. “Therefore, in the context of the International Day against Corruption commemorated tomorrow, December 9, I inform the Honduran people that I have called on them to execute the international arrest warrant against former President Juan Orlando Hernández.” The public prosecutor writes that he has, among other things, requested the help of Interpol.
Release
Hernández was released from a federal prison in the United States last month after Trump pardoned him. Hernández was sentenced last year by a US federal court to 45 years in prison for his role in transporting tons of cocaine to the US. Trump announced Hernández’s release on social media, where he wrote that many people he respects believe Hernández has been “treated very harshly and unfairly.”
Honduras wants the former president extradited so that authorities can prosecute him for a corruption scandal. Dozens of Honduran politicians and officials are said to have been involved in this so-called Pandora case, which took place between 2010 and 2013. They are alleged to have diverted public money to political parties, including Hernández’s 2013 presidential campaign.
A lawyer for Hernández calls the Honduran prosecutor’s move a “clearly strictly political step to intimidate President Hernández. It is shameful and a desperate piece of political theater and these charges are completely baseless.”
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