Judicial authorities in Honduras on Tuesday, September 1, definitively dismissed a public funds embezzlement trial against former president Juan Orlando Hernandez in Tegucigalpa.
The 57-year-old former head of state had been accused of misusing $2 million from public funds to finance his 2013 presidential election campaign.
Carlos Silva, a spokesman for the Honduran judicial authority, told reporters that the judge ruled the former president had neither approved nor managed the specified funds.
Silva added that Hernandez had recorded no increase in his personal wealth, which provided the legal rationale for the court to order the definitive cancellation of the trial.
Speaking outside the courthouse in Tegucigalpa after the ruling was announced, Hernandez said that the chapter of political persecution had closed. He reiterated his assertion that he was a victim of political persecution in both Honduras and the United States.
United States drug trafficking conviction and pardon
Hernandez, a right-wing politician who governed Honduras from 2014 to 2022, was sentenced by a United States court in 2024 to 45 years in prison for drug trafficking.
A United States court had found him guilty of protecting and participating in a drug trafficking ring that moved more than 500 tons of cocaine to the American market.
In November 2025, United States President Donald Trump granted Hernandez a presidential pardon, leading to his release from custody in December 2025.
Hernandez returned to his homeland on July 26, 2026. Upon his return to Honduras, he publicly expressed his gratitude to President Trump for the decision to grant him a pardon.
Legal background and Interpol request
Honduras is a Central American nation with its government based in the capital city of Tegucigalpa. Following the former president's pardon and release in the United States, Honduran prosecutors had requested Interpol in December 2025 to arrest Hernandez.
While a United States presidential pardon grants executive relief from federal convictions, judicial proceedings in Honduras regarding domestic election campaign funds remained open until Tuesday's ruling ended the prosecution.
