Development: In Tegucigalpa on 6 October, the former Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón said that the International Criminal Court (ICC) could formally investigate those persons that directed the 28 June 2009 coup d’état against former president Manuel Zelaya (2006-2009), noting that it would be "an unprecedented development in Latin America".
Significance: In November 2010 the head of the ICC, Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo, announced that the ICC would examine the events surrounding the coup. Garzón was in Honduras last week with a delegation of jurists to attend a rights’ seminar. If enough proof for a case were put together, among those who could face international trial are the former de facto president, Roberto Micheletti, and the former head of the army, Romeo Vázquez Velázquez, who has mooted ambitions to run for the presidency in the next scheduled general election in November 2013.
Key points:
• The outgoing Honduran congress awarded all those involved in the coup – on both sides - a broad political amnesty in late January 2010. On 7 July 2011 a truth and reconciliation commission issued a report vindicating Zelaya – saying that he was the victim of an illegal coup d’état. But crucially, it did not absolve him, suggesting that Zelaya pretty much brought the coup upon himself through his lengthy brinkmanship with the other institutions of state. No-one has ever faced any criminal charges for the coup; indeed Micheletti was made a senator for life by congress and General Vázquez Velázquez was shuffled out of the army and into a juicy retirement post at the helm of the state telecoms company, Hondutel.
• Garzón, who made his name with his attempts to bring international charges against former dictators including Chile’s Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990), suggested that Micheletti and Vázquez Velázquez could be charged with crimes against humanity. The proposed rap sheet includes responsibility for over 200 human rights violations, including eight assassinations, as reported by the truth commission, as well as torture, forced disappearances, arbitrary detentions and the repression of innocent civilians.
• Also in attendance at the 100-strong seminar was Frank La Rue, the United Nations rapporteur for the Freedom of Expression, who revealed that he intends to submit a request to the government of Honduras for permission to conduct an official visit to investigate the deaths of 16 journalists since 2010. Also in attendance was Eugenia Valenzuela, representing Luis Moreno Ocampo.
