Charges dropped in the prisoner of Guatemala slaying case

GUATEMALA city - a Guatemalan judge Tuesday dropped charges against a former prison director accused of having participated in the killing of 10 detainees.

Judge Patricia Flores Tuesday ordered the release of Alejandro Giammattei, who was arrested last summer, saying: it was not enough evidence to continue.

A former presidential election candidate, Giammattei was among 19 people accused of plotting the murders of seven prisoners during an uprising of 2007 Pavon prison and execution of three inmates who escaped from the prison of "el infiernito" in 2005.

Interior then Minister Carlos Vielmann is also charged in the case. Vielmann was arrested in Spain in October 2010, and the request for extradition by the Guatemala is pending.

The accused also include the former head of the national police, Erwin Sperisen, whose extradition from the Switzerland is also underway.

The United Nations International Commission against impunity in the Guatemala, put in place to manage similar cases, accused Giammattei, Vielmann and Sperisen of belonging to a criminal organization which engaged in executions.

Honduras removes all charges against the former President (AP)

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras - A Honduran Court rejected the last two remaining charges Monday against the former President Manuel Zelaya, removing a key obstacle to return in the country.

The decision also could pave the way for the return of the country to the Organization of American States, who have expelled Honduras after the coup of June 2009 ousted Zelaya.

In a statement in Washington, Secretary General of the OAS Jose Miguel Insulza said that "this puts an end to uncertainty on the legal status of the former President."

"The main condition for the return of the Honduras the Organization has been met," he wrote in the statement. "I will immediately begin the consultation with the Member States to examine their will to call an assembly to consider the issue."

Honduras was expelled from the OAS and subject to diplomatic isolation after the coup. Most of the recovery relations after Lobo assumed his functions.

A Court of special appeals panel dismissed the charges of fraud and falsification of documents filed against Zelaya after the coup.

The Court said the criminal charges could be improperly overloaded civil law and should be rescinded. Federal prosecutors said that they call you the decision of the Court, with 60 days to file the appeal.

In March, a judge has suspended arrest warrants for related charges, which Zelaya claims are politically motivated.

Zelaya has already said that he would return to the Dominican Republican, where he lives, because he feared for his life. In an interview with the Radio Globo Honduran radio station in March, Zelaya claimed "there are people who want to liquidate me and are still alive, and they have great power.". He added that his enemies include powerful businessmen but gave no other details.

Zelaya did not immediately following the actions of the court Monday.

Campaign Zelaya to rewrite the constitution, possibly to allow his re-election, anger elite of business Honduras in 2009. The military deposed him and he stole the country under threat when he ignored an order from the Supreme Court to cancel a referendum on the constitutional review.

Roberto Micheletti, a former leader of the Congress, took power provisionally, and former President of the National Congress Porfirio Lobo won the end of 2009 Presidency in an election scheduled before the coup. Lobo replaced Micheletti following January.

In April, Lobo met with Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and Colombian leader Juan Manuel Santos in Cartagena, Colombia, where the three agreed that the abandonment of the charges against Zelaya could help the Honduras to return to the Organization of American States. Venezuela and left allies objected to return of the Honduras.