Excess of Terrorism Charges in Ecuador

Yesterday the Human Rights Watch association (HRW) expressed its concern about the several accusations in Ecuador against demonstrators.

In the country, “at least dozen protests and demonstrations participants have been prosecuted or investigated for excessive charges of terrorism,” indicated HRW in its annual global report.

The NGO stress some punctual cases such as: Marlon Santi, leader of the Indigenous Nationalities Confederation (CONAIE), who has been under investigation since June 2010 for making terrorism in a meeting that upset Rafael Correa, Evo Morales, and Hugo Chávez. The second case is against Pepé Acacho, an indigenous leader accused of sabotage and terrorism after violent protests in 2009, which concluded with one death; and finally the case of the reporter, Juan Alcívar, accused of throwing tear gas against Correa during a protest.

In this field, HRW emphasized the “contempt” penalty in Ecuador, which allows condemning those who offend a public official with a term of three months imprisonment, which may extend to two years if the officer is the President.

Furthermore, the organization expressed its concern for the media law, which must be approved by the assembly, because it could create press “censorship” limiting freedom of expression to the disclosure of “truthful, verified, contextualized, and plural information.”

The report also noted the statements of President Rafael Correa that threatened NGO with expulsion in case they will get into politics.

Source. AFP