Honduran judges held

Press, 1 April 1985, Page 6

Honduran judges held

NZPA-Reuter Tegucigalpa

The Supreme Court president and eight senior judges have been arrested in Honduras and charged with treason, congressmen said yesterday. The charges of '‘betraying the country and acting against the form of Government” were formally read out in Congress by deputies supporting the President, Dr Roberto Suazo Cordova. The arrests are a result of a constitutional dispute between Dr Suazo and Congress. Hamon Valladares Soto was seized by the national police special investigative unit soon after being sworn

in as president of the Supreme Court. Eight Supreme Court and supplementary Supreme Court judges were arrested in the first direct intervention by the armed forces. Valladares Soto was appointed after Congress dismissed five judges, including the president of the Supreme Court, last week accusing them of bending electoral rules in favour of Dr Suazo.

He said that the appointment of the judges amounted to a technical coup by Congress. The upheaval in the judiciary has provoked the worst crisis in Dr Suazo’s three years in power at the

head of the first elected Government in Honduras after 17 years of military rule.

Congress held an emergency session yesterday and formed a seven-man commission to ask the commander of the armed forces, General Walter Lopez Reyes, to obtain Valladares Soto’s release.

The military, which has traditionally played a powerful role in Honduran Silitics, has appeared relucnt to intervene.

Many congressmen believe that the arrests showed that at least one faction of the armed forces had been persuaded to act in Dr Suazo’s favour.