Judge Orders House Arrest To Former Military Chief Implicated in 2009 Coup
Former Generals Romeo Vásquez Velásquez, Venancio Cervantes and Carlos Roberto Puerto, handcuffed and guarded by Honduran troops. Photo: X/ @Hondurasaldiahn
January 12, 2025 Hour: 1:42 pm
A judge ordered this Sunday the formal prosecution and house arrest against the former head of the Joint Staff of the Armed Forces of Honduras Romeo Vasquez and two other military personnel, Accused of murder during the coup d’état of 28 June 2009 against then president Manuel Zelaya.
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The court’s spokesperson, Bárbara Castillo, reported on the decision of the Criminal Letters judge of the Judicial Section of Tegucigalpa against Vásquez, Venancio Cervantes, former deputy head of the military institution, and Carlos Roberto Puerto, former commander of the Special Operations Command.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office (Procuradoria) announced in a statement that it will appeal against the judge’s decision, which has determined that the three retired generals will defend themselves at liberty but remain under “care and surveillance” their lawyers and they can’t leave the country.
The Honduran judge will subsequently notify the date on which he will hold the preliminary hearing of the trial against the three generals.
The Honduran Public Prosecutor’s Office accuses Vásquez, Cervantes and Puerto of “murder against Isis Obed Murillo and homicide in his degree of attempt against Alex Roberto Zavala”, both followers of Zelaya, husband and advisor to the President of Honduras, Xiomara Castro.
Murillo died on 5 July 2009 from a shot to the head while participating in a demonstration, on 5 July 2009 when Manuel Zelaya tried to return to the country by air, The Armed Forces prevented him from crossing trucks at the runway of Toncontín International Airport in the Honduran capital.
Zavala suffered “serious injuries” as a result of the shots fired by Honduran soldiers, the Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement.
According to the investigations, the military’s actions were “brutally disproportionate, as they indiscriminately fired high-powered and heavy-caliber (M-16) rifles at citizens exercising their right to demonstrate peacefully”.
Autor: ACJ
Fuente: EFE