(CNN Spanish) –– Juan Orlando Hernández, former president of Honduras, has pleaded not guilty to federal drug trafficking and firearms charges he faces in the United States.
Hernandez entered the courtroom in New York wearing a navy blue uniform and nodded to attendees, including journalists and members of the public. On the way out, several members of the public yelled at him, “murderer, time to repent” and “rat”.
Hernández listened to the hearing through an interpreter and when asked how he declared himself, he replied in Spanish: “Innocent, your honor.”
The next hearing was set for September 28. Judge Kevin Castel said he hopes to assemble a jury early next year and has set a tentative date of Jan. 17, 2023 for the start of the trial.
They treat him “like a prisoner of war,” says Hernández’s lawyer
Defense attorney Raymond Colón told the judge that his client is treated as a prisoner of war at the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) where he is being held. Colón said it has been very difficult to gain access to his client and that he has been turned down three times.
He also told the judge that Hernandez has been denied commissary privileges without being provided a good reason. When he tried to deposit money, he was turned away, Colon said. Hernandez has also not been allowed to call or email his family in the 20 days since his arrival at the MDC, according to his attorney. He is also being held in a segregated unit within the facility, in 24-hour solitary confinement, and has only been allowed one hour of exercise on a basketball court in those 20 days, he added.
Colón told the judge that he is not asking for any special privileges for himself as a former president, but that he wants him to have the same privileges as any other inmate in the prison. “He is being treated like a prisoner of war, which is psychologically debilitating. He is not a terrorist, he has not hurt anyone, so we do not understand these conditions, ”Colón said.
Judge Castel then asked the government to contact MDC staff to discuss the situation and understand any security restrictions placed on the Hernandez and report back to the judge within a week.
The extradition of Juan Orlando Hernández
Juan Orlando Hernández was extradited from Honduras to the United States on April 21, weeks after the Supreme Court in Tegucigalpa ratified its decision to hand him over to that country and rejected a last appeal for protection presented by the defense.
With a strong security operation of some 800 to 1,000 members of the National Police, Hernández was transferred by helicopter to the Toncontín airport in Tegucigalpa from where he traveled under the custody of agents of the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA, for its acronym in English).