Ecuadornews:
The judges cannot dictate the use of the electronic surveillance device for prosecutions for different reasons because the contract with the company in charge of monitoring ended, according to Gina Godoy, coordinator of Zone 8 of the recently-disappeared Ministry of Justice, who said that they asked the jurists who refrain from ordering the putting of shackles.
“The system continues to monitor those devices that are installed, but we do have to stop the installation of new devices,” he said.
Godoy stressed that on August 8 the then Minister Rosana Alvarado informed the Judicial Council of the restriction for the implementation of new devices, indicating that one reason was the evaluation of the service offered by the monitoring company. He said that the device not only allowed to establish mobility but a direct communication, “via device, without it being a mobile unit, for verification purposes”.
The previous government acquired about 4,000 anklets at a cost of $ 10 million, which were used a year ago. In Guayaquil, several times the police have arrested individuals carrying the device, in cases of micro-trafficking, assaults and other crimes. These are defendants who regained their freedom by granting them substitute measures.
Godoy said they have 400 devices for home arrests and 600 for causes of intrafamily aggression, but the latter figure showed concern to say that only about 30 have been used, which he estimated as a minority compared to the indices in these cases. And he avoided projecting the time it would take to count on an ankle monitoring company again.
Notes
Mayor Jaime Nebot yesterday requested an explanation to the Assembly regarding why the draft Citizen Security Law, which he delivered last January, is not yet in force. “What are they waiting for so that those who kill, rape, kidnap and steal do not continue to leave prison with that amazing, outrageous (…) speed with what they do today,” he questioned. The project aims that in the crimes of death, rape, kidnapping and robbery there is no expiration of preventive detention. (I)
