TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - The senior military leaders accused of expatriation of Honduras President Manuel Zelaya deposed after a coup against him, will be tried in freedom, judicial sources said on Thursday.
The board members of armed forces commanders, led by the head of the Joint Chiefs, General Romeo Vasquez, are accused by the prosecution on charges of abuse of authority and expatriation during the coup perpetrated on June 28 against Zelaya .
"The board members will release prosecuted commanders , the judge gave them alternatives to come forward to sign a book in court every 15 days and can not leave the country while they continue the process," told Reuters Public Prosecutor Leonardo Orellana.
The military hierarchy appeared Thursday before the president of the Supreme Court, Jorge Rivera, who was appointed special judge to continue the trial against the military.
The military arrested Zelaya at his home at gunpoint and sent him to Costa Rica when the president was preparing to hold a referendum, banned by a judge, opening the way for presidential reelection(reuters could have stated a bit less biased the "speculation": that could have opened the way for reelection in 2014).
Zelaya was exiled by the military while the Constitution of Honduras forbids to expatriate nationals .
The deposed president secretly returned to Honduras on September 21 and took refuge at the Brazilian Embassy from which he unsuccessfully demanded his return to power.
The defense of the military ensures that defendants are innocent and based his defense among other arguments, called "necessity" and proceeded to expatriation expectation that if he had stayed in the country there would have been a widespread situation of violence.
The de facto president, Roberto Micheletti, who replaced Zelaya, said that the deportation was "a mistake.
http://lta.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idLTASIE60E04H20100115?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0
*Clearly, a mistake can mean a crime too. Don't forget to think about that.
*If you can oust someone based on two speculations: "he wanted to change the constutition because he wanted to be reelected"(forgetting that there are very few laws protecting the population and tons of laws protecting the oligarchy's status quo) and "not ousting him could have meant a widespread situation of violence", then I think we have virtually reached a step back to the middle ages, when the authorities could just cut your hands when someone pointed out you might steal bread, or back to the Inquisition when you just had to be considered a "witch" by someone to get burnt.
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