Thursday, November 26, 2009

Supreme Court: Zelaya must face justice before anything else

Tegucigalpa, Honduras. The Supreme Court of Honduras (CSJ) ratified that ousted president, Manuel Zelaya, cannot be reinstated unless he subjects himself to legal procedures that are still pending, reported a source from that body today.

In the opinion sent this week to the National Congress -- which on Dec. 2 will discuss whether or not to reinstate Zelaya -- the CSJ confirms the opinion it issued on Aug. 21 during the consultation process of the San Jose Agreement proposed by the president of Costa Rica, Óscar Arias, in his capacity as mediator of the crisis in Honduras.

A source at the CSJ told EFE that the opinion being sent to Congress, which ratifies the opinion issued in August, was approved last night by 14 of the 15 judges, but the source did not say who voted against or why.

In August the supreme court said in relation to the return of Zelaya to power, that "there are criminal actions filed (against him) by the Attorney General's Office," so that "while there are no other applicable legal dispositions, it cannot be avoided that Zelaya would have to submit to the procedures established in the criminal procedural law."

Zelaya has an arrest warrant for several crimes related to an illegal referendum he sought to hold on June 28 promoting a Constituent Assembly, the same day that the military arrested and expelled him from the country, and Parliament appointed Roberto Micheletti as President instead.

Translated from La Prensa

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