NEW YORK (AP) – Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández was charged Friday with conspiring with drug traffickers and using the power of the military and national police to allow large quantities of cocaine to flow unhindered into the United States. He was convicted in New York.
A jury returned the verdict in federal court after a two-week trial, but the verdict is being closely watched in his home country.
Hondurans closely monitor former president's US drug trafficking 'trial of the century'
Mr. Hernández, 55, who served two terms as leader of the Central American nation of about 10 million people, said his lawyer Renato Stabile stood with everyone else in the courtroom as jurors filed out after the trial. I patted him on the back. Reading of the judgment.
When the news reached the nearly 100 Hernandez opponents on the street outside the courthouse, they began to applaud and jump into the air to celebrate the result.
In this courtroom sketch taken in federal court in New York on February 20, 2024, former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, seated in the center of the defense bench, is seen with prospective jurors during the jury selection process at the start of the trial. is looking towards. (Elizabeth Williams, via AP, File)
The courtroom was quiet, and Hernandez seemed relaxed as the jury foreman announced the three verdicts. Hernandez sometimes folded his hands in front of him or crossed one leg over the other while each juror was asked to affirm the verdict. They all did.
In remarks to the jury before leaving the courtroom, Judge P. Kevin Castel praised the jury for reaching the unanimous verdict needed for a conviction.
“We live in a country where 12 people can't agree on the toppings on a pizza,” the judge said, saying the message would have been the same regardless of the ruling. “That's why I'm in awe of you.”
Defense attorneys and prosecutors did not immediately comment.
In 2022, three months after leaving office, Hernandez was arrested at his home in Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras, and extradited to the United States in April of the same year.
U.S. prosecutors say Mr. Hernández accepted millions of dollars in bribes during his rise from rural lawmaker to president of the National Assembly to the country's highest office and collaborated with drug traffickers as far back as 2004. Accused.
In his trial testimony, Hernández acknowledged that drug funds were paid to virtually every political party in Honduras, but he denied accepting bribes.
He said he visited the White House and met with U.S. presidents to position himself as a champion of the war on drugs, working with the United States to stem the flow of drugs into the United States.
In one instance, he said he was warned by the FBI that a drug cartel was trying to assassinate him.
He said his accusers fabricated allegations about him in order to seek leniency.
“They all have a motive to lie and are professional liars,” Hernandez said.
But prosecutors derided Mr. Hernández, as if he were claiming to be Honduras' only honest politician.
In closing arguments Wednesday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jacob Gutwillig told the jury that the corrupt Hernandez “laid a cocaine highway into the United States.”
Stabile maintained his innocence, saying his client was “unjustly accused.”
Witnesses at the trial included traffickers who have admitted to committing dozens of murders, including Hernández, the notorious Mexican drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzman, who is serving a life sentence in the United States. He was an ardent defender of some of the world's most powerful cocaine dealers, including Mr.
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Hernandez, who wore a suit throughout the trial, remained calm as he testified through an interpreter and was asked if he had ever paid bribes or promised to protect traffickers from extradition to the United States. repeated “No”.
His brother, former Honduran congressman Juan Antonio “Tony” Hernández, was sentenced to life in prison in Manhattan federal court in 2021 for his own conviction on drug charges.