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Mesa begins to define patterns of persecution in the government of Rafael Correa
Posted On 12 Nov 2018
Ecuadornews:
Arbitrary detention for several hours without the order of a judge, management of the Automatic System of Judicial Proceedings (Satje) to order the transfer of judges just when it was going to give or was intended to give a hearing against opponents, detention of people up to that the ballot arrives, exclusion of evidence for no reason …
Two and a half months after the Council of the TransitionalJudiciary (CJ) created the “Mesa” (table) for Truth and Justice, these are somebehavior patterns of political persecution used in the government of RafaelCorrea that that body would have identified when investigating and review apart of the 1,435 cases presented.
At the moment, according to the vocal of the CJ Angélica Porras, these patterns are part of the hypothesis built in this time of work by the four commissions that make up the Mesa. And he hopes that with the investigation they are doing, they can corroborate it and make it visible in their first report in mid-December.
Last Monday, the presentation of cases in public hearing began. Those who make up the Mesa heard eight cases. Fernando Villavicencio was the first to count the way judges and prosecutors operate in nine judicial, civil and criminal proceedings, which he faced in the Correísta period. All the trials, he said, were to sanction his right to opinion.
Another of the patterns that, according to Porras, would have been identified has to do with issues related to due process, with the difficulties faced by victims of persecution to defend themselves, to be able to contact their lawyer. He recalled a case in which the lawyer who defended the opponent of the regime, who was illegally detained, was a lawyer in an ethyl state, who could not say anything in favor of his client at the arraignment hearing.
The president of the Bureau, Pául Jácome, explained that the behavior of the Ecuadorian justice in these cases are being analyzed under parameters established in a protocol. That would determine definitions of what is a political persecuted, what is a criminalized, how to establish an attack on freedom of expression, and so on. These parameters have been worked with the support of human rights organizations and the Ombudsman’s Office.
The legal coordinator of the Citizens’ Revolution, Virgilio Hernández, believes that the political persecution is being implemented in an institutionalized manner. “This is a mechanism that aims to have an institutional façade of a regime that is closer not only to the anti-democratic, but increasingly to fascism.”
Inanalysis
Thedirect relationship between the statements of ministers and the initiation of acriminal case, and the intervention of members of the previous CJ and otherentities of the State in cases against opponents, are also analyzed as patternsof persecution. Virgilio Hernández believes that the report that the “Mesa porla Verdad” will present does not seek justice, but revenge. (I)
