CONAIE prepares a demand for criminal law before the Constitutional Court

Image: El Universo

The Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) is preparing a claim of unconstitutionality of Section 283 of the Integral Organic Code of Criminal Procedures (COIP for its Spanish acronym) announced yesterday by the leader Nina Pacari Vega.

It further explained that the COIP criminalizes the attack or resistance to authority when resistance to the decisions of the authorities is a right guaranteed in the Constitution of 2008.

“If it is a right, the exercise of this right can not be criminalized because exercising the right to resistance is not a crime, therefore that standard of the COIP is unconstitutional,” Pacari said.

Pacari said they expect that the Rapporteur of the United Nations related to judicial independence visits Ecuador because, at her discretion, based on racism and unconstitutional judicial standards “the government is criminalizing indigenous leaders.”

Source: http://www.eluniverso.com/noticias/2015/10/08/nota/5172140/conaie-alista-demanda-ley-penal-ante-cc