Tag Archives: Supreme Court of Justice

Hunger Strike on Day Six

News on May 24, 2010 by Administrator| Comments Off

Five Honduran judges have been on a hunger strike for six days in protest of a decision by the Supreme Court of Justice (SCJ) to dismiss four magistrates that condemned the June 28th actions against former president Manuel Zelaya.

Thursday another two people joined the strike, and there are now seven strikers demonstrating in La Merced Park, across from Congress in downtown Tegucigalpa.

The demonstrators want to see reversed the dismissal of Judges Alonso Chevez and Guillermo Lopez (two of the strikers), Ramon Enrique Barrios, and Tirza del Carmen Flores, whose dismissals were announced on May 5th.

Honduran Deputy Marvin Ponce presented on Friday a motion to the National Congress to investigate the SCJ for the arbitrary decision.
The legislator proposed to Congress the appointment of a commission to analyze the administrative behavior of the judicial branch.

Judges Guillermo Lopez, Jose Pineda, Gerson Medina, Pablo Munguia and Chevez, who are members of the Association of Judges for Democracy, went on strike on Monday, while the two new members of the group are a high school student, Michael Urbina and a small farmer, Teodoro Carbajal.

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Posted in Politics in Honduras

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Chimirri Receives 4 Years

News on February 18, 2010 by Administrator| Comments Off

The former manager of the Honduran Telecommunications Company, Hondutel received a sentence of four years’ imprisonment.

Marcelo Antonio Chimirri Castro was found “responsible for the crime of abuse of authority against the public administration and will serve a sentence of four years (4) imprisonment,” reads the decision by judges Julissa Aguilar, Rosaminda Velasquez and Jocelyn Donaire.

Chimirri was not ordered to pay any money for the damage he caused to the finances of Hondutel; however, the judges decided yesterday that while Chimirri is in prison, he will have to perform public service labor within the institution. This ensures that Chimirri will no longer remain locked in his cell, but will be forced to interact with other inmates.

In most instances, a four year sentence can be avoided by paying ten lempiras for each day of the sentence. In the case of Chimirri, however, the courts did not allow him this benefit because he is wanted in another case, and therefore must comply with the sentence.

When leaving the Supreme Court of Justice, Chimirri, announced that he has been threatened with death by the prison authorities. “I was threatened with death by the head of the National Penitentiary. He told me I was not going to live there,” he called out.

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Posted in Honduran Business - Economics

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Military Commanders Acquitted

News on January 26, 2010 by Administrator| Comments Off

The Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ), today found in favor of the commanders of the Armed Forces of Honduras in relation to their actions on June 28, 2009.

The leaders in question were Romeo Vasquez Velasquez, head of the Joint Chiefs; Cervantes Venancio, Deputy Chief; Javier Prince, Commander of the Air Force; Miguel Angel Padgeth, Commander of the Army; and Juan Pablo Rodriguez, Commander of the Navy. They were accused of coordinating improper actions in the capture and extradition to Costa Rica of Mr. Manuel Zelaya Rosales on June 28, 2009.

Senior military leaders in their response to the charges brought against them, said they made the decision to bring Zelaya out of the country of Honduras, and to the country of Costa Rica for homeland security reasons, as the social situation had become dangerous.

Juan Carlos Sanchez, one of the lawyers defending the military leaders revealed that on June 28th there were about 950 armed foreign nationals in the country, who posed a threat to the security of the nation.

It was “the prevailing rule of necessity,” said Juan Carlos Sanchez. “There is evidence that if Zelaya remained in the country, it would had provoked the bloodshed of many of our countrymen”.

The initial hearing took place on January 21st, and the judges adjourned at midnight with the evidence. The judges spent until today analyzing the documentation.

The prosecution had argued that there was no need to remove the former president because the Armed Forces had the equipment and personnel necessary to avoid any threat to the country.

Colonel Ramiro Archaga, the Armed Forces spokesman, said that “justice was done”. He believed the judges of the CSJ considered all arguments relating to the case.

Outside the court, Civic Democratic Union (UCD) members were gathered with banners in favor of the military leadership.

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