Defense of Pablo Romero asks the Court for authorization for former President Rafael Correa to give testimony in the Balda case

On Friday morning, Stalin Oviedo, a lawyer for former National Secretary of Intelligence (Senain), Pablo Romero, asked the Court, in the case of the plagiarism of political activist Fernando Balda, which occurred in Colombia in 2012, to authorize former President Rafael Correa to testify from Belgium in this case.

Defense of Pablo Romero asks the Court for authorization for former President Rafael Correa to give testimony in the Balda case

On July 6, the trial hearing against Romero was suspended, after an hour and a half of the testimony that the former leader of Senain decided to give at the last minute. Technical problems with communication with Prison 4, in which Romero is located, made the stage for 8:00 next July 14 at the National Court of Justice (CNJ).

“By virtue of article 565 of the Organic Comprehensive Criminal Code, he requested that the defense witness Rafael Correa be authorized to give his testimony through telematic means, while he is currently domiciled in Belgium and consequently provide the data of the virtual room so that it enters ”, indicates the request of Oviedo.

The exmandatario is part of the testimonial evidence announced in the evaluation and preparatory hearing for the trial by Romero’s defense, but he is also one of the four people who have been accused of perpetrators of the Balda kidnapping. To give his testimony, Correa should approach the closest Ecuadorian consulate where he is located to reinstate the diligence.

Former intelligence agents Raúl Chicaiza and Jéssica Falcón have already been sentenced in this case, at the moment Romero is being tried, while Correa’s trial stage is on hold because the crime of plagiarism cannot be tried in absentia.

Upon request, Balda said: “The” neighbor “as always wants to help his friend. Good neighbor! I hope they accept him. ”