El Universo Case has its Judges

The judges of the Criminal Chamber of the National Court of Justice (CNJ by its Spanish acronym) that will handle El Universo case will be Wilson Merino, Jorge Blum and Paul Iñiguez. These three judges were chosen from 1,869 during a raffle performed yesterday afternoon.

The chosen judges will be in charge of defining the date for the cassation hearing of El Universo newspaper. They will also confirm or deny the three-year sentence for the directors of the newspaper and the $40 million dollar fine.

Judge Merino informed that the distribution of trials was made yesterday afternoon, because the office was sorting the causes. Merino added that the process of the resources would be prioritized and resolved in the shortest time possible. Therefore it will be speaking judges that will handle the resources, they will also be in charge of setting the date for the hearing.

Meanwhile the Chancellor Ricardo Patiño denied the request of political asylum presented by the former editor of opinion Emilio Palacio. Patiño claimed that Washington does not have the competence to judge the judicial process in Ecuador. The Chancellor also called names on Palacio like, “fugitive, poor man, and felon.” (AV)