SAINT JOSEPH.- In a resolution issued this Monday, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IAC Court) condemned Honduras for the “arbitrary removal” of four of the five judges of the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court in 2012.
The controversy arose in the midst of a plan to “purge” the Police proposed by the then president Porfirio Wolfand supported by the head of the legislature, Juan Orlando Hernandezwho rose to the presidency and is currently facing drug trafficking charges in the United States.
In its ruling, the Court highlights “the international responsibility of the State of Honduras for the violation of judicial guarantees, the principles of legality and judicial independence, as well as political rights, judicial protection, job stability and personal integrity.” of the magistrates”.
The dismissed judges are José Antonio Gutiérrez Navas, Gustavo Enrique Bustillo Palma, Rosalinda Cruz Sequeira and José Francisco Ruiz Gaekel, who had declared the “unconstitutionality” of the police purge plan. The only judge who supported the plan was not removed.
In place of the dismissed judges, Lobo and Hernández appointed judges related to their administration, who approved the controversial re-election of Hernández in 2014, violating the provisions of the constitution.
Lobo was investigated for fraud after leaving office, and Hernández was extradited to the United States, where he was convicted of drug trafficking last March.
The Inter-American Court maintains that the judges were dismissed “by an authority that lacked jurisdiction, which constituted a violation of the guarantee of judicial independence.” In addition, the Honduran Congress exercised a “diversion of power” to sanction the four magistrates “for their decisions and exert external pressure on the Judiciary.”
As reparation measures, the Inter-American Court ordered Honduras to pay compensation to the former magistrates, carry out a public act of recognition of responsibility and adapt its internal legal system.
Source: With information from AFP
