Corruption Case

An appeals court reversed the formal charges and granted definitive dismissal to former Nationalist Party congresswoman Gladis Aurora López in a case alleging she misappropriated public funds from an electrification project in La Paz.

The assigned judge in Juan Orlando Hernández's case for fraud and money laundering declined to continue, saying the investigation no longer involves a sitting high official requiring the Supreme Court's jurisdiction, prompting Hernández's lawyers to appeal and the former president to claim political persecution.

The attorney for Marco Antonio Vallecillo, a former judge facing corruption charges, has asked the Supreme Court to clarify his employment status and allow his return to the judiciary, arguing he was never formally dismissed or suspended.

A court replaced pretrial detention with less restrictive measures for former judge Marco Antonio Vallecillo, accused of extortion, after the Constitutional Court found due-process violations; he must remain in Honduras, report regularly to court, and avoid contact with co-defendants.