The Honduran Supreme Court has rejected a Costa Rica-brokered deal that would have restored ousted president Manuel Zelaya to power and sternly warned that he faces arrest if he returns.
In a ruling late on Saturday that fell in line with similar pronouncements by the military-backed regime, the high court said that Zelaya will not be allowed to return to power, and “cannot avoid having to submit to established procedures of the penal process” should he return to Honduras.
Zelaya was ousted from power in a June 28 military-backed coup and replaced with interim leader Roberto Micheletti.
The court decision also accused Zelaya of “crimes against the government, treason against the nation, abuse of power” and other misdeeds, as it affirmed the legitimacy of Micheletti’s government.
Micheletti’s government had been installed as part of a lawful “constitutional succession,” the court said.
The ruling may signal the death knell for the proposal mediated by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias that called for Zelaya to return to power, an amnesty for political crimes and early elections.
Under the deal Micheletti would return to his pre-coup post as speaker of Honduras’s parliament.
Zelaya was originally elected as a moderate conservative but took a sharp turn to the left while in office, aligning himself with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Bolivian President Evo Morales.
Elected in 2006 for a four-year term, Zelaya was ousted after forging ahead with controversial plans to hold a referendum to change the Constitution so that he could extend his stay in office.
The country’s top court previously ruled the move was illegal, and backed the bloodless coup during which Zelaya was bundled in his pajamas onto a plane bound for Costa Rica.
The latest ruling comes on the eve of the planned arrival in Honduras yesterday of a delegation of foreign ministers from Organization of American State countries.
The delegation was hoping to negotiate a solution to the succession crisis gripping the Central American country.
It was not immediately clear whether the high court ruling would affect their plans.
The foreign ministers, whose mission has faced delays for the past two weeks, planned to meet yesterday and today with interim Honduran officials.
The Philippine Department of Justice yesterday labeled Vice President Sara Duterte the “mastermind” of a plot to assassinate the nation’s president, giving her five days to respond to a subpoena. Duterte is being asked to explain herself in the wake of a blistering weekend press conference where she said she had instructed that Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr be killed should an alleged plot to kill her succeed. “The government is taking action to protect our duly elected president,” Philippine Undersecretary of Justice Jesse Andres said at yesterday’s press briefing. “The premeditated plot to assassinate the president as declared by the self-confessed mastermind
Ireland, the UK and France faced travel chaos on Saturday and one person died as a winter storm battered northwest Europe with strong winds, heavy rain, snow and ice. Hampshire Police in southern England said a man died after a tree fell onto a car on a major road near Winchester early in the day. Police in West Yorkshire said they were probing whether a second death from a traffic incident was linked to the storm. It is understood the road was not icy at the time of the incident. Storm Bert left at least 60,000 properties in Ireland without power, and closed
Czech intelligence chief Michal Koudelka has spent decades uncovering Russian spy networks, sabotage attempts and disinformation campaigns against Europe. Speaking in an interview from a high-security compound on the outskirts of Prague, he is now warning allies that pushing Kyiv to accept significant concessions to end the war in Ukraine would only embolden the Kremlin. “Russia would spend perhaps the next 10 to 15 years recovering from its huge human and economic losses and preparing for the next target, which is central and eastern Europe,” said Koudelka, a major general who heads the country’s Security Information Service. “If Ukraine loses, or is forced
THIRD IN A ROW? An expert said if the report of a probe into the defense official is true, people would naturally ask if it would erode morale in the military Chinese Minister of National Defense Dong Jun (董軍) has been placed under investigation for corruption, a report said yesterday, the latest official implicated in a crackdown on graft in the country’s military. Citing current and former US officials familiar with the situation, British newspaper the Financial Times said that the investigation into Dong was part of a broader probe into military corruption. Neither the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs nor the Chinese embassy in Washington replied to a request for confirmation yesterday. If confirmed, Dong would be the third Chinese defense minister in a row to fall under investigation for corruption. A former navy
RSS