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: JURIST - The Paper Chase

Honduras court charges military officials with abuse of power for Zelaya ouster

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

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[JURIST] A Honduran Supreme Court judge on Thursday charged top military personnel with abuse of power for removing former president Manuel Zelaya from the country after he was ousted from power last June. Supreme Court President Jorge Rivera issued charges against six military commanders, including armed forces commander Romeo Vasquez Velasquez, air force commander Venancio Cervantes, and naval commander Luis Javier Prince, and ordered them to remain in the country to testify before the court. Prosecutors asked the court to issue charges last week, arguing that individual military commanders violated the Honduran Constitution when they seized Zelaya and put him on a plane to Costa Rica because the constitution prohibits the forcible removal of a citizen. The charges to do not question the presidential ouster itself. Zelaya has dismissed the charges as a political move, claiming the prosecutors share as much responsibility as the military. The abuse of power charges carry a sentence of three to six years in prison. Zelaya remains in Honduras at the Brazilian embassy. Last month, the Honduran National Congress voted 111-14 not to reinstate him. This followed a non-binding advisory opinion from the Supreme Court that Zelaya could not legally return to office. Zelaya's return to power appears unlikely, as elections were held in November, and Porfirio Lobo is due to be sworn in as president later this month. Zelaya was ousted in June, following a judicial order asserting that he had broken Honduran law by attempting to conduct a controversial referendum on constitutional reform, contrary to a Supreme Court ruling. Zelaya, along with the US, the UN, the Organization of American States (OAS), and the European Union, maintain that his removal was a coup, while the interim government of Roberto Micheletti asserts that it was a lawful transition of power.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on January 15, 2010 (boomark / email).