The country’s former immigration director was sentenced to nine years in prison for letting 14 Colombian friends of a notorious drug trafficker enter the country.
Ramon Romero told a news conference he is innocent and will appeal.
Romero was found guilty of abusing his authority by allowing the May 2004 entry of a plane carrying 14 Colombian friends and relatives of Juan Ramon Matta or his Colombian wife.
Romero still faces charges he helped sell Honduran passports to hundreds of Chinese, Cubans, and Lebanese. When he was fired in April 2005, authorities discovered US$15,000 (€10,853) in cash in his desk.
He was the third Honduran migration director in 13 years to be ousted on corruption charges. Two others were fired in 1992 and 1996.
Matta was taken from his Tegucigalpa home by U.S. marshals in 1988, triggering violent protests that included the burning of a U.S. Embassy office and the deaths of five people in clashes with police. Protesters accused the U.S. of violating Honduran sovereignty.
Matta is serving consecutive life sentences in a Colorado prison on drug charges and in connection with the death of undercover U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent
