NewYork

Juan Orlando Hernandez, the former president of Honduras, has been sentenced to 45 years in prison for his conviction on drugs and weapons charges.

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US District Judge P. Kevin Castel in a Manhattan federal court on Wednesday (June 26), sentenced 55-year-old Hernandez. 

Prosecutors had sought a life sentence, emphasising the seriousness of Hernandez's actions and aiming to deter similar crimes in the future, arguing that it would send a firm message to other politicians who use their power to protect powerful criminal groups.

Also read: Judge grants US extradition request for former Honduras president

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Prosecutors said Hernandez used drug money to support his political rise and use his influence to help traffickers bring hundreds of thousands of kilogrammes of cocaine into the US.

Hernandez allegedly received millions of dollars in bribe money from drug traffickers in return for military support for the illegal enterprise throughout his time in office, according to the US.

During a two-week trial, prosecutors said Hernandez used the money he received from drug trafficking to bribe officials and manipulate voting results during Honduras’s 2013 and 2017 presidential elections. 

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Several convicted traffickers testified they bribed Hernandez.

Testifying in his own defence, Hernandez denied accepting bribes from drug cartels.

Meanwhile, his lawyers claimed that the convicted traffickers were seeking revenge for Hernandez’s anti-drug policies.

Notably, a jury convicted him in March of three counts, including conspiring to import cocaine into the US and to use weapons to flood the country with an almost unimaginable quantity of the drug.

Hernandez faced a mandatory minimum sentence of 40 years in prison. 

Also read: Honduran ex-president to remain in custody as US seeks extradition

A few weeks after completing his second term, he was arrested in 2022. His brother, Juan Antonio “Tony” Hernandez, also a former Honduran politician, was sentenced in the US to life in prison in 2021 on drug trafficking charges.

(With inputs from agencies)