After being found guilty of drug and weapon charges, Juan Orlando Hernandez, the former president of Honduras and a key US ally known for his tough-on-crime policies, was given a 45-year prison sentence.
Hernandez, 55, was found guilty in March by a Manhattan jury of taking millions of dollars in bribes to shield cocaine shipments headed for the United States from traffickers he had previously declared he would stop.
The sentence was handed down on Wednesday in a Manhattan courtroom by US District Judge Kevin Castel.
Hernandez, 55, who served as the country’s leader from 2014 to 2022, declared his innocence during his sentencing. “I was unfairly and incorrectly accused.”
“The former president of Honduras was given a 45-year sentence for aiding drug dealers.”
Both domestically and internationally, Hondurans had applauded the conviction, viewing it as an uncommon example of responsibility for dishonesty and corruption by a member of the ruling elite.
The former leader, who was frequently identified by his initials JOH, was found guilty by the jury in March of accepting millions of dollars in bribes to conceal sizable cocaine shipments that were headed for the US.
In their request for a life sentence, the prosecution claimed that this would send a strong message to other politicians who support powerful criminal organisations with their positions of authority.
Prosecutors stated on Monday that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to carry out the kind of large-scale, international drug trafficking at issue in this case and the widespread drug-related violence that results without dishonest politicians like the defendant.
Prosecutors claimed Hernandez manipulated voting results and bought off officials with drug money during the 2013 and 2017 Honduran presidential elections, all within the course of a two-week trial. Numerous traffickers who were found guilty admitted to bribing Hernandez.
In his self-defense testimony, Hernandez refuted accepting bribes from drug cartels.
Meanwhile, Hernandez’s attorneys claimed that the traffickers who were found guilty were seeking retribution for Hernandez’s anti-drug laws.
Due to drug charges, Tony Hernandez, JOH’s brother, received a life sentence in prison in the US in 2021.
[Al Jazeera]
