International
“A harsh verdict, but he is mentally strong”: Juan Orlando Hernández’s lawyer talks about the former president of Honduras
The former president of Honduras Juan Orlando Hernández (JOH) was found guilty of drug trafficking and arms trafficking by a jury in a federal court in New York.
Drawing showing the former president of Honduras Juan Orlando Hernández (c) and his defense lawyers Raymond Colón (i), and Renato Stabile (d), during the trial in a federal court in New York, USA (Photo Prensa Libre: EFE)
Lawyer Renato Stabile, representative of former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández, who was convicted this Friday, March 8 in New York for three crimes of drug trafficking and weapons, acknowledged that “it is (a verdict) harsh,” but added that his client “is mentally strong.”
The jury retained the three charges that the Prosecutor’s Office had presented against Hernández, apparently convinced by the forcefulness of the testimonies presented against him by numerous witnesses, almost all of them confessed drug traffickers, and in the absence of other incriminating evidence.
Hernández listened to the sentence with a serious face and did not make any comments, since Judge Kevin Castel had warned against any verbal or other type of demonstration to those in attendance, among whom there were numerous Hondurans present.
Only when he was leaving the room, Hernández turned and looked at his two sisters-in-law who had attended today’s session, to whom he said: “I am innocent. I love you, tell the world.”
The three charges for which Hernández has been convicted carry maximum sentences of life imprisonment in all three cases, but the final sentence that Judge Castel will sign will not be known until later, possibly months.
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