Paris, July 07: The international police agency Interpol said Tuesday it has refused a request by Honduran authorities to issue an international arrest warrant for ousted President Manuel Zelaya. The Lyon-based agency said its Office of Legal Affairs concluded that the request was in contravention of Interpol’s constitution, which bans it from undertaking “any intervention or activities of a political, military, religious or racial character.”
“The charges against President Zelaya of misuse of authority, usurpation of public functions, offences against the system of government, and treason were assessed as being of a political nature with no ordinary-law crime element,” Interpol said in a press statement.
Zelaya was ousted on June 28 for holding a referendum on changing the constitution to allow him to run for re-election in November.
However, he remains recognized as Honduran president by the international community, which has spurned the government installed after the coup with former Congress speaker Roberto Micheletti as president.
–Agencies