Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Supreme Blessing on the Coup

The coup of 2009, in which Manuel Zelaya was forcibly removed both from office and from the country, was officially blessed in an unappealable decision today by the Honduran Supreme Court.

In a case initially heard by Chief Justice Jorge Rivera Aviles, the Public Prosecutor had sought to charge the former heads of the military Joint Chiefs (Romeo Vasquez Velasquez, Venancio Cervantes, Carlos Antonio Cuéllar, Miguel Ángel García, Luis Javier Prince, and Juan Pablo Rodríguez) with forcibly removing Zelaya from the country, a violation of the Honduran constitution, and with abuse of authority. In their defense, they did not reject that it had happened, but claimed it was out of necessity. Rivera Aviles then dismissed the charges.

The Public Prosecutor then appealed to the Constitutional group of the Supreme Court, which voted 4 to 1 to uphold Rivera Aviles's decision, but because it was not a unanimous decision, the Public Prosecutor could and did appeal it again, this time to the full Supreme Court.

El Heraldo reports that HRN radio reported that the vote was 12 to uphold the original decision, three against.

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