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Hernández was released from a U.S. federal prison last week after receiving a presidential pardon from Trump. Last year, he had been sentenced by a U.S. federal court to 45 years in prison for helping transport tons of cocaine into the United States.

After leaving office in 2022, Hernández quickly went from being a supposed U.S. ally in the fight against drugs to the subject of an American extradition request. He was detained by current President Xiomara Castro of the social democratic LIBRE Party and sent to the United States.

Zelaya included a photo of the two-year-old order signed by a Supreme Court judge, which pertains to alleged fraud and money laundering charges. The order states that it should be executed “if the defendant is released by U.S. authorities.”

Dozens of Honduran officials and politicians had been implicated in the so-called Pandora case, in which prosecutors allege that government funds were funneled through a network of NGOs to political parties, including Hernández’s 2013 presidential campaign.