Balda Case: Correa, on trial as the author of the kidnapping

Ecuadornews:

Shekept the suspense until the end. On the night of November 7, Judge DaniellaCamacho sued former President Rafael Correa as the perpetrator of the crime ofkidnapping and plagiarism in the case denounced by political activist Fernando Balda in 2012 in Colombia. She also declared him a fugitive from justice.

Camacho based her decision on a long document whose reading took almost three and a half hours. Along with Correa, Pablo Romero, former Secretary of Intelligence, and agents Raúl Chicaiza and Diana Falcón will be prosecuted. However, the process was suspended for the first two, who are out of the country.

Fromthe beginning, the day was bad for the correístas. Caupolicán Ochoa, lawyer ofthe former president, began the pessimistic afternoon. “Bad omen: in theentrance to the audience allowed the entry of 35 adherents to Balda. Not one onbehalf of the accused, “he said in his social networks. He was on theeighth floor of the building of the National Court of Justice. Below,supporters of Correa, with Ricardo Patiño at the head, kept up their own fighttrying to prevent vehicular circulation with their protest.

In Belgium, Correa was not calm either. He was awaiting the diligence on his Twitter account and even gave an interview to the Chavez channel Telesur. There he assured that if he were in Ecuador, he would be imprisoned. He did not have a decision in his favor.

In his resolution, Camacho mentioned more than one hundred binding elements between the four accused of illicit association and Balda’s plagiarism. The reading began at 3:10 pm with the relation of the facts, the investigations of the Office of the Prosecutor and the preliminary resolutions.

Then the judge made the triangulation of responsibilities between Correa, Romero, Chicaiza and Falcón. He mentioned, for example, the checks destined for the operations to bring to Balda de Colombia (which according to the accusation came from the Presidency), the non-existence of requests for extradition, deportation or blue diffusion of Balda, the letters sent by the ex-agents to Correa in which they asked for help for the kidnapping process in Colombia …

Camacho mentioned 20 binding elements of Correa with the illicit and 25 elements for Romero. He recalled that the record includes the versions of former officials such as Rommy Vallejo and Homero Arellano, who at the time were in charge of the Secretariat of Intelligence, in which they pointed out that, according to the chain of command, the president was the direct superior hierarchical authority of Romero. The latter was a decisive element for the judge.

In addition to calling them to trial, Camacho maintained the precautionary measures for the defendants. That is, the prison order for Correa and Romero. He asked the police to capture and bring them from Belgium and Spain, respectively. He added an order to retain his accounts.

In the courtroom were the accused Raúl Chicaiza and Diana Falcón, who admitted the crime and accepted effective cooperation to try to reduce their possible sentences. They had requested to take refuge in the domiciliary prison, but the judge did not accept.

In the end, Ochoa said that for them “is not a surprise” the call to trial and questioned that Camacho has not taken into account the elements of defense exposed in seven hours, in which he distorted the arguments of the prosecution and the prosecution particular.

In his first reactions, Balda said he does not think the ruling is a triumph. He considers that he only confirms that public funds were used for his kidnapping. He stressed that “we cannot – celebrate the fact that today the entire Ecuador judicially verified that these criminal acts were ordered by a President of the Republic.”

Stalin Oviedo, defense attorney for Romero, said the judge did not base the decision, which she described as poor and not motivated.

Some supporters of former President Rafael Correa decided to show their support on the outskirts of the National Court of Justice. The concentration had its most conflictive moment when the lawyers of the politician Fernando Balda entered. Felipe Rodríguez was physically attacked by the demonstrators. They threw eggs and insulted the jurist who follows the process.

The group of followers of the leader of the self-styled citizen’s revolution also attacked President Lenin Moreno, his ministers and the media with insults.

Amongthe supports, on the other hand, the citizens sang in favor of the ex-presidentsentenced Jorge Glas. (I)

Source: https://www.expreso.ec/actualidad/casobalda-rafaelcorrea-llamamiento-juicio-secuestro-AB2461200