Zelaya Case Update

The judge Claudio Aguilar of the Unified Criminal Court of Francisco Morazan has recused himself and his court from the case brought by the Public Prosecutor against Manuel Zelaya Rosales. The judge ruled that because Zelaya was representative to Parlacen, he was a high government official and that his court did not have jurisdiction as these cases under Honduran law must be tried by the Supreme Court.

This reading of Honduran law agrees with our analysis, that of the UCD, and others who were surprised the case was continuing to be heard in a lower level criminal court.

This effectively discards the motions for nullification placed by the public defenders he appointed for Zelaya.

A spokesperson for the court said that by the middle of next week the Supreme Court would appoint a judge to hear the case.

The public defenders said they would remain on the case.