They refuse to change Juan Orlando Hernandez’s lawyer and keep the trial in the US.

Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez, accused of drug trafficking in a United States court, this Thursday, in the last hearing before the start of the trial, requested to change his lawyer, which was rejected by Judge Kevin Castel.

Castel argued that he could not make this request because there was too little time left for the trial, and kept the February 5 date for the start of the trial with jury selection the same day. The jury will be anonymous and witnesses will benefit from the government’s witness protection program.

Hernández, also known by his given name JOH, has two other defendants in his case, his cousin Mauricio Hernández and former Honduran National Police Chief Juan Carlos Bonilla. The Tiger’; All of them were also handcuffed, with the handcuffs attached to a chain.

As they sat down, with a chair between them, they removed the chain, and put it back at the end of the hearing in the Southern District Court of New York (Manhattan).

Since his arrival in the United States on April 21, 2022, having been extradited from Honduras, Hernandez is noticeably thinner and has more gray hair. As a joke, he shares a cell with cryptocurrency mastermind Sam Bankman-Fried, who was convicted of multimillion-dollar fraud in November and is now awaiting sentencing.

Your family is insecure

Hernández also asserted that his family is not safe in Tegucigalpa and that he receives constant threats. “Every day I experience a terrible situation because I don’t know what will happen to them; “Doesn’t my family’s life matter to you?” He stormed the office of the judge and the prosecutor.

According to the former president, 55 years old, the threats to his relatives come from a criminal organization that he did not name but that – he assured – should be taken seriously because in the past he killed the son of the former president.

The former president (2014-2022) said that his lawyer Raymond Colon had been ill in recent months and could hardly meet with him to study all the documents provided by the prosecutor’s office for the trial, so he asked that they be handed over. to another lawyer in Honduras; Additionally, it casts doubt on Colon’s credibility, suggesting that he may have been manipulated by someone who identified himself as a member of the US anti-drug agency DEA.

Judge Castel did not completely discredit these indications and ordered his court to communicate with the DEA whether or not to give credence to the alleged connection of that middleman of Dominican nationality.

Hernández also played the helplessness card, saying he didn’t even have the money to pay for proper defense — his funds are frozen — and for that reason his daughters started an online crowdfunding campaign in Honduras (via GoFundmy) to pay. to that defense, but later admitted they had to cancel the campaign after raising $30,000.

Judge Castel rejected all of JOH’s requests and the prosecutor’s office accepted: it would be a trial with an anonymous jury and those called to testify would fall under the government’s witness protection program, two provisions that are increasingly common in drug trafficking cases.

In addition, it denied Police Chief Bonilla’s request to be tried in a separate trial. EFE