Honduras court overturns 58-year sentence for ex-first lady

By iNFOTEL
March 13 2020 01:42 PM

CP658157208 — FILE - In this Aug. 20, 2019 file photo, former Honduran first lady Rosa Elena Bonilla de Lobo leaves court after her conviction on corruption charges in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. The Supreme Court of Justice of Honduras on Friday, March 13, 2020, annulled the corruption trial in which Bonilla de Lobo was convicted of fraud and sentenced to serve 58 years. (AP Photo/Elmer Martinez, File)

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras – Honduras’ Supreme Court has overturned a 58-year prison sentence against former first lady Rosa Elena Bonilla and ordered a new trial for her.

Court spokesman Melvin Duarte said Friday the sentence was overturned because of procedural and other errors during the first trial.

In September, a lower court had convicted Bonilla of embezzling about $600,000 in government money between 2010 and 2014, when her husband Porfirio Lobo was president.

The case was originally brought by the Organization of American States’ anti-corruption mission.

Investigators for the nongovernmental National Anti-Corruption Council have told prosecutors that Bonilla deposited $600,000 in government funds into her personal bank account five days before Lobo ended his four-year term in January 2014.

Prosecutors said she used the money to buy jewelry and pay credit cards.

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