Crime & Justice

Former Honduran president to be extradited Thursday to US

Tegucigalpa, Apr 20 (EFE).- Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez will be extradited Thursday to the United States, a country that accuses him of three drug trafficking weapons use charges, Honduran Security Minister Ramon Sabillon, said Wednesday. .

Hernandez is scheduled to be extradited at 07:00 local time (13:00 GMT) Thursday, Sabillon said.

He said the former president (2014-2022) would be handed over to the United States Drug Enforcement Agency at the Hernan Acosta Mejia Air Base in Tegucigalpa, for which the press has been summoned.

The minister said that, for security reasons, “the use of drones is prohibited” both in the Special Forces and the National Police, where Hernandez has been held since Feb. 15, and in the air base.

The plane in which Hernandez will be extradited will arrive Thursday at the Hernan Acosta Mejía Air Base, Honduran Defense Minister Jose Zelaya said.

On Apr. 13, the Honduran Supreme Court ordered that Hernandez be taken to the US after the resolution on his extradition was signed by the 15 magistrates in the Supreme Justice Court plenary session.

The Supreme Court Constitutional Chamber ratified the extradition of the former president on Apr. 8 which the plenary session of the Supreme Justice Court confirmed on Mar. 28.

On Mar. 16, a natural judge appointed by the plenary session of the Honduran Supreme Court authorized Hernandez’s extradition, appealed by his defense.

The United States has levelled three charges against Hernandez, the first for “conspiracy to import a controlled substance into the United States,” with the “knowledge that said substance would be illegally imported” into the country.

As well as “using or carrying firearms, or aiding and abetting the use, possession, and possession” of “machine guns and destructive devices.”

The third is for a “conspiracy to use or carry firearms, including machine guns and destructive devices (…), in support of the conspiracy to import narcotics.” EFE

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