The former Honduran lady Rosa Elena Bonilla was sentenced Wednesday to 58 years in prison by an anti-corruption court that found her guilty of “fraud” and “misappropriation” of public funds during her husband’s government, Porfirio Lobo (2010-2014 ).

The spokesman for the Supreme Court of Justice, Carlos Silva, informed the press that the court notified the sentence after Bonilla, 52, was found guilty of the crimes on August 20.

According to Honduran regulations, the defense of the former lady has 20 days to appeal the sentence.

Bonilla was arrested on February 28, 2018 and has since been held in a women’s prison in Támara, 10 km north of Tegucigalpa.
The prosecutor’s office, in collaboration with the Mission to Support Corruption and Impunity in Honduras (MACCIH) -addressed to the OAS-, accused the former lady of diverting the equivalent of $ 510,000 of public funds five days before Lobo will deliver power on January 27, 2014.

Lobo publicly accuses the current president Juan Orlando Hernández of inducing the courts to condemn his wife.

Hernandez and Lobo belong to the National Party (PN, right) but are confronted after the former president criticized the management of the current ruler and urged him to resign.

The MACCIH was created by the Organization of American States (OAS) in January 2016 to collaborate with the local prosecutor’s office in the fight against corruption in Honduras.