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Prosecutor Diana Salazar: “Justice is being inaugurated in this country”
Posted On 08 Sep 2020
The Court of Cassation of the National Court of Justice (CNJ) ratified the penalty of eight years in prison against former President Rafael Correa for the crime of bribery in the Bribery case.
Prosecutor Diana Salazar: “Justice is being inaugurated in this country”
It was also determined that the 8-year sentence is maintained for other former officials of his regime and representatives of 10 companies.
The magistrates determined that the former president was identified as a criminal organization that received money in exchange for contracts with the State.
The same time of sentence was imposed for former vice president Jorge Glas, former minister María de los Ángeles Duarte; the former Secretary of Water, Walter Solís; the former candidate for Mayor of Guayaquil, Viviana Bonilla; former Assemblyman Christian Viteri.
The sentence was reduced to Correa’s former adviser, Pamela Martínez , for her effective collaboration. From 38 months in prison, it lowered her to 9 months and 22 days. Her former assistant, Laura Terán, remains in prison for 3 months.
As for the businessmen who participated in the business plot, the 9 representatives of the firms were sentenced to 8 years in prison.
The case of Alberto Hidalgo, from the firm Hidalgo & Hidalgo, presented a particular case. On appeal, he was sentenced to 32 months as an accessory. However, the Court classified him as a direct author and increased the penalty to 8 years in prison.
This situation generated reactions for and against the sentence. Diana Salazar, Attorney General of the Nation, expressed her satisfaction at the end of the hearing.
In a press conference offered at the CNJ, Salazar pointed out that it was not the State Attorney General’s Office who won , but all of Ecuador. “Because justice is being inaugurated in this country,” he said. And he added that this is a clear message that the law is for everyone.
Harrison Salcedo, Jorge Glas’s lawyer , rejected the sentence and pointed out that this was already programmed and structured from the first moment. “This was not justice, this was legal pantomime,” he said.
María del Mar Gallegos, Alexis Mera’s lawyer, also spoke in this regard. She warned that she will present “the resources she has left.” That is, it will go to an appeal for review and, if necessary, to international courts. (I)
