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Tegucigalpa, March 23 (EFE).- The plenary of the Supreme Court of Justice of Honduras can define this week whether to ratify or deny the extradition of former President Juan Orlando Hernández, whom the US accuses of three charges associated with drug trafficking and use of weapons, an official source told Efe on Wednesday.
The file of the natural judge who authorized the extradition of Hernández was sent to the secretariat of the Supreme Court of Justice, which could have already informed the presidency of the organization, and “now we must wait for the technical defense of the former governor to appear before this second instance,” said Supreme Court spokesman Melvin Duarte.
He added that if the defense is presented today, tomorrow the three days established by the agreed order would begin to run for the presidency of the Supreme Court of Justice to convene the plenary session to decide on the extradition, either to ratify, modify or revoke the extradition. , authorized on March 16 by a natural judge.
Hernández “enjoys the prerogatives as a deputy before the Central American Parliament” in other countries, protected by the Vienna Treaty, so he should not be extradited, lawyer Rosa Elena Bonilla said on Tuesday.
HERNÁNDEZ DOES NOT ENJOY IMMUNITY IN HONDURAS
In the particular case of Honduras, its deputies do not enjoy immunity but, according to Bonilla, “who can lift immunity is the Central American Court of Justice” (CCJ), an instance to which the defense of the former president has also resorted, without having had so far no response.
The CCJ “is also in charge of determining whether or not the immunity exists that has been requested both from the natural judge and from the Supreme Court of Justice (so) that they make a pre-judicial consultation with the body in charge, which is the Central American Court of Justice, to effect to determine the scope of these immunities and privileges,” Bonilla emphasized.
Article 22 of the Central American Parliament establishes that the deputies to that regional forum will enjoy “the same immunities and privileges enjoyed by the deputies of the national Congresses or Assemblies.”
It also states that “the deputies will enjoy permanent immunity with respect to their votes and written and verbal opinions of an official nature expressed in the exercise of their positions.”
It adds that “the Central American Parliament, at the request of the competent authorities of the country of which the deputy is a national, may lift and suspend the immunities and privileges of its deputies” and that “in the event of a flagrant crime, the Parliament will proceed ex officio, immediately to the lifting of immunities and privileges”.
On February 14, the United States asked Honduras, through the Foreign Ministry, for the preventive arrest for extradition purposes of former president Juan Orlando Hernández, which was fulfilled a day later, when he was captured at his residence, handcuffed and footcuffed. and held in a special unit of the National Police, where he has remained ever since.
On February 16, in a first hearing before a natural judge, Hernández heard about the crimes charged to him by the United States, while on March 16, the same judge, in a second hearing for the presentation and evacuation of evidence, authorized his extradition.
Although the Supreme Court of Justice would have three days from tomorrow for the plenary, made up of fifteen magistrates, to decide on the extradition or not of Hernández -against whom there is no open trial in court-, it can do so before Saturday, said the Supreme Court spokesman.
Hernández is the first former president of Honduras required for extradition by the United States to prosecute him for alleged crimes associated with drug trafficking and use of weapons.
(c) EFE Agency