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Honduras drops suit against Brazil for sheltering ousted president Zelaya

By Hillary Stemple

[JURIST] The International Court of Justice (ICJ) [official website] announced Wednesday that Honduras has dropped proceedings against Brazil [press release, PDF] relating to the June 2009 coup [JURIST report] in Honduras. The Honduran interim government began the proceedings [press release, PDF] last October in response to the sheltering of former Honduran president Manuel Zelaya [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] in the Brazilian embassy during the coup. The ICJ was informed earlier this month that the charges were being withdrawn, and the order was granted [text, PDF] last week.

Earlier this month, a Honduran truth and reconciliation commission [JURIST report] was tasked with understanding what happened before, during, and after the coup and making recommendations for the future. In January, Honduran President Porfirio Lobo [NYT profile] granted amnesty to both Zelaya and military leaders accused of participation in the coup. Also in January, the Honduran Supreme Court [official website, in Spanish] exonerated six military leaders [JURIST report] accused of abuse of power for their alleged role in the coup. In December, the Honduran Congress voted 111-14 not to reinstate [JURIST report] Zelaya. His ouster was the result of a judicial order [press release, in Spanish] that asserted Zelaya had broken Honduran law by attempting to conduct a controversial referendum on constitutional reform [JURIST report], contrary to a Supreme Court ruling.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on May 20, 2010 (boomark / email).