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495 judges and prosecutors will be investigated for political persecution
Posted On 11 Dec 2018
Ecuadornews:
The request was presented to the Judiciary by the Bureau for Truth and Justice after making its preliminary report public, in which 247 verified cases are established. The government of Rafael Correa is the main defendant.
Three months and 20 days after the creation of the Bureau for Truth and Justice:Political Persecuted, Never Again, its members presented the preliminary re porton Monday, December 10. The definitive will be ready in January. In the document, which will be sent from Tuesday, December 11 to human rights organizations, universities, relatives of victims and involved, it is determined that 1,435 cases were registered or reported. Of that number, 300met the requirements demanded by the table and of these 247 were verified, sothere is definitive and complete information.
90% of the cases of alleged political persecution were committed in the government of former president Rafael Correa, explained the head of the table, Paul Jácome,to specify that in 2010 the largest number was recorded with 85; followed by2012 with 35, 2015 with 25, 2016 with 20 and 2011 with 19.
mitted that before and after the Correa regime cases were also registered,but not in the magnitude of the 10 years of the correísmo. He pointed out that the other highest figures are five in 2003, four in 2008 and eight in 2018. Jácome explained that of the 247 verified cases, 196 are men and 51 women, 67%are mestizos and 10% are indigenous. About age, he explained, unlike what happened in previous governments in which the persecuted politicians were students and young revolutionaries, now ages range from 30 to 60 years in 77%of cases.
This figure is linked to all verified cases, 59% of those affected were professionals, 15% farmers or ranchers and other social groups on a smaller scale. Systematic persecution The member of the Council of the Judiciary (CJ),Angelica Porras, who works with the table, explained that from the information obtained to date, it is defined that the persecution that took place in the country occurred in a systematic way, structured and brutal against the people prosecuted.
The correísmo, she said, built the image of a victim state and applied an”exaggerated seriousness” of the criminal types. The judicialization was accompanied by intimidation against family members, kidnappings, and theuse of the pardon and public apology request was used to grant “pardon”and file proceedings.
In the case of the defenders of the rights of nature, said that the practice against these was the violent entry of the public force into the communities, acommunication policy of the previous government, deaths, rapes, burning of houses, crops, lawsuits to leaders, among others. For indigenous peoples and nationalities there was a similar practice and, in addition, imprisonment of leaders, heavy economic fines, ignorance of the application of indigenous justice, use of false evidence to accuse, in short.
Accordingto Porras, in the case of the police uprising of September 30, 2010 (30-S), the image of enemies was built through the Saturday broadcasts, who did not agree with the regime, strong criminal offenses were applied to the linked There were constant changes of judges, prosecutors, arrests, illegal searches, eliminationof evidence, sentences were not motivated.
There were tortures and kidnappings to relatives of the defendants. Freedom of expression, arbitrary arrests, labor dismissals, among others, were also violated.
Recommendations
Two recommendations are included in the preliminary report of the Bureau for Trut hand Justice. The first one, a reform to the Organic Penal Code (COIP) to decriminalize the crimes of opinion. The second, a reform to the Law of Victims and Reparations to eliminate temporality. The report ends with seven conclusions.
Investigation of the judiciary
The president of the Bureau for Truth and Justice, Paolo Jácome, formalized his request to the CJ for the investigation of 495 judges and prosecutors who would be involved in the political persecution against the 247 verified victims. He said that these justice operators must answer for their actions and actions that have left complaints and doubts.
The members of the table requested to continue the analysis of approximately 1,100cases with the permanent or final Judiciary, for which they will request an agreement with the Council of Transient Citizen Participation (CPCCS-T).
The president of the CJ, Marcelo Merlo, explained that the purpose of the creation of this table was to clarify the cases of political persecution registered in the administration of Rafael Correa. The official believes that this work”serves as an effective tool to fully investigate cases of political persecution and determine reparations for victims.”
On the request to investigate judges and prosecutors, indicated that the corresponding procedure will be done. He explained that according to the regulation of disciplinary control there are two stages, the first, an investigation of the misconduct of the operators of justice. The second, if irregularities are established in the investigation, then sanctions will be imposed. (I)
