TEGUCIGALPA, HONDURAS
Mario Morazanmagistrate of the Electoral Justice Tribunal (ECJ); Lourdes Mejía Estapé and Gabriel Gutiérrez, substitute magistrates, presented this Monday an appeal for protection before the Supreme Court of Justice (CJS) for the impeachment process that both are followed in the National Congress.
“I come to present a preventive protection, the control mechanisms that our legal system has in relation to political trials are quite scarce, but of course, in a rule of law, no action of a public power can be outside constitutional control,” said Morazán.
He pointed out that the actions of the special commission have violated fundamental principles such as judicial independence, the right to defense, the state of innocence and due process.
“We are being judged by a commission whose members, several of them, have already rendered their judgments. There is no possibility of an objective and impartial procedure,” he questioned upon reaching the Judiciary.
It is worth mentioning that the officials summoned by the Legislature to begin the impeachment trial are Marlon Ochoa, counselor of the National Electoral Council (CNE); the magistrate Mario Morazán, and the substitutes Lourdes Maribel Mejía Estapé and Gabriel Gutiérrez Peralta, of the ECJ.
Ochoa will not attend to congressional summons
In the case of Ochoa, who is a representative of the Libertad y Refundación (Libre) party in the CNE, he stated last Friday that he will not attend to the impeachment summons that the National Congress made to him on Thursday in a plenary session.
The official argued that his attendance at the summons is unnecessary, under the premise that the resolution to remove him from his position has already been agreed upon in advance.
Through his social media accounts, Ochoa questioned the impartiality of the special commission appointed by the Legislature, whose members he described as “executioners” within a process that he considers predetermined.
The official, suspended from his position, was summoned to appear this Monday at 9:00 am, followed by Mario Morazan Aguileramagistrate of the Electoral Justice Tribunal, at 11:00 am.
This same day, they were also summoned Lourdes Maribel Mejía Estapé, substitute magistrate, at 1:00 pm, and Gabriel Gutiérrez Peralta, substitute magistrate, at 3:00 pm.
Who makes up the special impeachment commission?
The nine deputies of the special commission are: Tania Pinto (president), Lissi Cano (vice president), Alberto Cruz (secretary), as well as Kilveth Bertrán, Saraí Espinal, Sara Zavala, Luz Ernestina Mejía, Arnold Burgos and Alejandra Vallecillo.
