News Desk

Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez has been given a sentence of 45 years in prison and a fine of $8 million dollars by a US judge on the account of drug trafficking offenses. Having previously denied charges against him, he insisted that he was ‘wrongly and unjustly accused’ on his sentencing on Wednesday. Back in March, a New York jury had found Hernandez guilty on a total of three drug trafficking charges in a Manhattan federal court trial that lasted two-week, in which he had denied the charges.

He was surrendered from Honduras after the US Department of Justice held him accountable for three drug-trafficking and firearms related criminal charges in 2022. The prosecutors accused him of collaborating with drug cartels during his time in the office after they’d supposedly transported more than 400 tons of cocaine through Honduras to the United States. They have said that, in exchange, he had received millions of dollars in bribes which he contributed to his rise in Honduran politics.