Panama divests Galo Lara from his political asylum

Panama revoked the territorial asylum granted last October to the Ecuadorian former opposition lawmaker Galo Lara, convicted in Ecuador to 10 years in prison for a triple homicide, reported yesterday the Panamanian Chancellery.

The Government of Panama revoked the asylum because `in recent documentation submitted´ by Ecuador, `it noted new procedural elements that give full certainty of the existence of common crimes and not political persecution´ against the former legislator, said an official statement.

Following this decision, the Minister of Justice Ledy Zuniga told a radio station that the asylum removal `vindicates the Ecuadorian judicial system.´

Lara entered to Panama on September 16, 2013 and at that moment he was temporarily detained by authorities because of an international arrest request in the hands of Interpol, but he was later released.