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Reuters
Reuters
World
Luc Cohen

Honduran ex-president Hernandez pleads not guilty in U.S., decries treatment

Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez attends Manhattan federal court to answer U.S. drug and weapons charges in New York, U.S., May 10, 2022 in this courtroom sketch. REUTERS/Jane Rosenberg

Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez, with chains around his ankles, pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to U.S. drug and weapons charges in Manhattan federal court while his lawyer complained of "prisoner of war" conditions in jail.

U.S. prosecutors have accused Hernandez, a former U.S. ally, of receiving millions of dollars from drug traffickers in exchange for protection from arrest while leading Honduras from 2014 until January of this year. Hernandez used the money to enrich himself and finance his political campaigns, prosecutors said.

Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez sits between his two attorneys Daniel Perez and Raymond Colon to answer U.S. drug and weapons charges in Manhattan federal court in New York, U.S., May 10, 2022 in this courtroom sketch. REUTERS/Jane Rosenberg

Hernandez, extradited from the Central American country last month, entered the plea of not guilty to three criminal counts - including conspiracy to import cocaine and weapons possession - at an arraignment before U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel.

The former president entered the courtroom wearing a blue T-shirt with chains around his ankles, and spoke briefly through a Spanish interpreter to say he was not guilty.

Hernandez has in the past denied the allegations, portraying himself as a fierce opponent of drug cartels and accusing traffickers of smearing him to get revenge and lighten their sentences.

FILE PHOTO: Honduras former President Juan Orlando Hernandez is escorted by authorities as he walks towards a plane of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) for his extradition to the United States, to face a trial on drug trafficking and arms possession charges, at the Hernan Acosta Mejia Air Force base in Tegucigalpa, Honduras April 21, 2022. REUTERS/Fredy Rodriguez/File Photo

At the hearing, his lawyer Raymond Colon said Hernandez was being held in solitary confinement at Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center and had not been allowed to call his family. Colon said he was denied access to visit Hernandez several times, though he has gone once and his assistants have gone.

"He's being treated like a prisoner of war," Colon said. "We're not asking for him to get special treatment because he's a former head of state, but these conditions are psychologically debilitating."

A spokesperson for the U.S. Bureau of Prisons confirmed Hernandez is being held at the Brooklyn detention facility but declined to comment on "any individual inmate's conditions of confinement."

FILE PHOTO: Honduras' President Juan Orlando Hernandez presents his national statement as a part of the World Leaders' Summit at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland, Britain November 1, 2021. Andy Buchanan/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

Castel ordered prosecutors to discuss Hernandez's detention conditions with Metropolitan Detention Center officials and report back to him. He set Hernandez's next court date for Sept. 28, and said trial could begin on Jan. 17, 2023.

(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Will Dunham)

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