Honduras court annuls judgement against former president Zelaya

May 3, 2011, 2:05 GMT

Tegucigalpa - A Honduras court on Monday annulled a 2009 court decision that blocked the return from exile by former president Manual Zelaya, who was ousted in a coup.

After the June 2009 coup, which involved a united front among Parliament, the military and the High Court, Zelaya was unceremoniously escorted out of the country on a plane to Costa Rica in the middle of the night, while he still wore his pajamas.

Zelaya had been elected as a conservative but then swing into a left-wing populist pole around Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. His opponents charged he was trying to change the constitution before elections later in 2009.

The successor government of President Porfirio Lobo was roundly condemned by the international community and ostracized by the Organization of American States for violating the standards of democracy.

Zelaya had managed to sneak back into the country in September 2009 where he was given months-long refuge in the Brazilian embassy. Finally, in January 2010, Lobo issued a safe conduct order for Zelaya to leave for the Dominican Republic and escorted him to the airport.

The Honduran state's attorney office has 60 days to challenge Monday's court decision that would allow Zelaya's return. Lobo had backed the court decision as a way to end Honduras' isolation from the rest of the world and petition for the Central American country's re-admission to the OAS.

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