Lawyer Felipe Rodríguez Moreno teaches Correa criminal classes “from a PhD in Law to a PhD in Economics.”
Rafael Correa, former president of Ecuador, at an event in Caracas, Venezuela, in March 2023.
On December 23, former president Rafael Correa held an exchange of views on the legal concepts ‘ fuero’ and ‘immunity’ with lawyer Felipe Rodríguez Moreno. This happened on the X network, formerly Twitter, regarding the legal process of former vice president Jorge Glas.
It all actually began on December 22, with a post by Felipe Rodríguez in which he commented on the legal scope of the National Assembly’s pronouncement on the process against Glas for alleged embezzlement of funds to rebuild Manabí.
Felipe Rodríguez considered that the Assembly’s pronouncement “is merely symbolic” and that the Prosecutor’s Office can ask the National Court for a date and time to file charges against Glas.
However, former President Correa answered Rodríguez with irony on the 23rd (“Incredible! The Assembly’s pronouncement has only been symbolic”) and then asked if the “honest jurists” will allow “so much garbage.”
The lawyer, with a PhD in Criminal Law, responded to Correa in an extensive tweet to explain, “from academic to academic”, the differences in concepts between jurisdiction and impunity.
Felipe Rodríguez explained to the former president what jurisdiction is: “It is the right that certain people (for example, you) have to be judged by their peers (hierarchically speaking) for conduct allegedly committed “in office.”
“Thus, a president or vice president cannot be tried by an ordinary judge, but exclusively by one of the National Court jurisdiction.
“The interesting thing about the jurisdiction is that it is carried over and maintained for the rest of your life for those behaviors allegedly carried out when you held the position of president or vice president. For example, if tomorrow someone wants to prosecute you for X act during your presidency , it doesn’t matter that you are no longer president, because the jurisdiction stays with you.
“But if they want to judge you for an act committed today, when you are not president, obviously, you have no jurisdiction.”
Then, Rodríguez explained what immunity is: “It is a constitutional shield that prevents judicial coups d’état and means that to prosecute a ACTING president or vice president, legislative authorization is needed.
“But unlike the jurisdiction, immunity perishes with the charge. That is, the charge ends and with immediate effect, the immunity ends. Like this. You or Glas have jurisdiction but not immunity today.
“Look at the difference with Daniel (Noboa), today he has jurisdiction and immunity and, once his term ends, he will maintain jurisdiction, but he will lose immunity.”
Later, Felipe Rodríguez explains to the former president about the jurist’s honor: “Disgraced is the lawyer who, because he flatters you, does not tell you the truth.”
