US federal judge P Kevin Castel on June 26 sentenced former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernandez to 45 years in prison and a fine of 8 million USD. In March, Mr. Hernandez was found guilty by a jury after a two-week trial in federal court in Manhattan.
“I am innocent. I was wrongly and unjustly convicted,” Mr. Hernandez said in Manhattan after the verdict.
Judge Castel called Mr. Hernandez a “two-faced power-hungry politician” who specializes in protecting drug traffickers. US prosecutors previously recommended a life sentence for Mr. Hernandez. During closing arguments in court, a prosecutor criticized the former president of Honduras for “opening the way for cocaine to enter the United States.”
Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez was escorted out of the capital Tegucigalpa for extradition to the US in April 2022. Image: AFP
Mr. Hernandez, 55 years old, is the first former head of state to be convicted of drug trafficking in the US. He led the Central American country of 10 million people from January 2014 to January 2022.
Hernandez is accused of being involved in a network that brought about 500 tons of cocaine into the United States via Honduras since 2004. US federal prosecutors said that Hernandez received millions of dollars in bribes to protect drug criminals. drugs, including notorious Mexican cartel boss Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.
He was arrested at his home in Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras, three months after leaving office in 2022 and was extradited to the US in April of the same year.
Hernandez’s family has repeatedly maintained that he is innocent and “a victim of revenge by drug traffickers who allowed his extradition or forced them to flee to the United States.” They say the traffickers lied to get a reduced sentence. Hernandez has insisted that his trial was unfair because he was not allowed to present evidence to the jury to prove his innocence.