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A Honduran judge ruled on Monday that former President Juan Orlando Hernandez can remain free while facing a corruption trial.
Hernandez, widely known as JOH, returned to Honduras on July 26, nearly eight months after Trump overturned his 45-year US prison sentence with a pardon.
He had been allowed to return after a Honduran court suspended an arrest warrant linked to allegations that he diverted $2 million in public funds to finance his 2013 presidential campaign.
At Monday’s hearing, Hernandez was formally charged with money laundering and fraud. The presiding judge maintained the suspension of the arrest warrant but ordered him to submit a written pledge not to flee, judiciary spokesman Carlos Silva told reporters.
Hernandez was also barred from leaving Honduras, while his first full hearing was scheduled for August 12, Silva said.
Trump pardoned Hernandez in November, shortly before Honduras’s presidential election. He argued that the former president had been unfairly prosecuted under former US President Joe Biden, although part of the investigation took place during Trump’s first term.
The pardon came as Trump threatened to withdraw US aid to Honduras unless conservative candidate Nasry Asfura, a political ally of Hernandez, won the election. Asfura narrowly prevailed despite opposition allegations of electoral fraud.
A federal court in New York sentenced Hernandez in June 2024 after convicting him on three drug and weapons charges. Prosecutors accused him of using state security forces to facilitate the smuggling of hundreds of tonnes of cocaine into the United States in collaboration with drug traffickers, including Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.
Hernandez has rejected both the US conviction and the Honduran case as political persecution. Before Monday’s hearing, he maintained that he would continue to fight the allegations and would not be intimidated.
The former president served two terms from 2014 to 2022, with his political career repeatedly overshadowed by corruption allegations.
He is also seeking the return of at least 130 assets seized after his extradition to the United States.
His return has divided public opinion in Honduras, where other defendants in the corruption case have been acquitted, including former President Porfirio Lobo, who was accused of authorising the use of public funds.
