The National Congress asked several institutions on Nov. 4th, including the Public Ministry, to submit their opinion on point number five of the Tegucigalpa-San Jose Accord, which attributes the decision of whether to “roll back ownership of the executive branch to the previous state before June 28th, until the end of the current government term ends on January 27, 2010″.
The Public Ministry (Ministerio Publico – MP) legal adviser today provided to the Secretariat of Congress the legal opinion on the return or not of Manuel Zelaya. The MP has determined that the return of the former president is not appropriate, as he is not present in court to answer the 18 charges against him.
Melvin Duarte, spokesman for the MP, said the institution responded to the request of Congress and conducted the analysis of the fifth item of the agreement, with the team that supports the Attorney General. “It has sent a legal analysis according to the Constitution of the Republic and the laws of the country,” said Duarte.
National Congress President, Jose Alfredo Saavedra, has convened a meeting on December 2nd to begin the discussion on the return of the presidency to Manuel Zelaya.
“The only request pending is the opinion of the Supreme Court”, according to the Vice President of the National Congress, Nassar Ramon Velasquez. The full Court of Judges was convened today to define a legal opinion on whether or not to reinstate Manuel Zelaya. “I think that tomorrow the report will be at the Secretariat of the Congress”, said Mr. Valasquez. Right now it is obvious the Congress is not going to analyze the documents immediately. He added that “probably” on Monday, November 30th, they will review the feedback received to begin “preparing for the meeting on December 2nd” at 10:00 am.
He recalled that President Roberto Micheletti has requested that the discussion on the return of Zelaya be done in a transparent manner “with the presence of means for the Honduran people and the world to learn of the decisions that the Congress will make.”
