Ruling against Romero leads to former President Correa

Pablo Romero, former National Intelligence Secretary , was sentenced to 9 years in prison ; But the case for which he was tried is not closed, on the contrary, it remains open and opens a path towards one direction: former President Rafael Correa .

Ruling against Romero leads to former President Correa

At the discretion of jurists, it is the power of the Attorney General to follow the case , which opens crimes related to the case against Romero, who was tried for the crime of plagiarism against the political activist Fernando Balda.

This event occurred in 2012, when Balda was in Colombia, as he argued that at that time he was suffering political persecution from the government of former president Correa.

For the jurists Antonio López and Miguel Revelo, the sentence paves the way for the case to continue , even with other actors who acted “following the orders of the former president.”

López maintains that after this sentence, Balda has every right to resort to the actions to which he is protected ; “All the procedural and evidentiary elements have reached the conclusion, not only of the existence of a criminal offense but also the criminal responsibility of others who have been prosecuted and who have a direct connection with former President Rafael Correa.”

It means then, as he said, that the trial remains open for the ex-president, until he appears to be tried, except for the fact that due to a time factor the prescription operates, to which he will surely appeal.

“The appeal for trial is made, it is a ruling that is included in the process where former President Correa was called to trial, that is, at any time he can be arrested and taken to court so that, with respect for the rules of due process , be tried and sentenced ”, he argued.

Even ex-intelligence agents, in their effective collaboration, informed the Justice of the orders they received and who they came from ; that in matters of law means evidence that is consistent, at least so far, with the criminal responsibility of former president Correa, he said.

For his part, the jurist Miguel revealed that the sentence against Romero orders the Prosecutor’s Office to investigate other facts ; “It is up to the Prosecutor’s Office to attend or not to the Court’s request to investigate events related to this, in order to determine if they become criminal acts.”

“If the Court ordered in the judgment that other facts be investigated, the Prosecutor’s Office has the obligation to heed that request and begin to investigate , but also any citizen who knows a case can make available to the Prosecutor’s Office to investigate”, stated.

However, the analyst Napoleón Saltos considered that although the Balda case is profound and structural , there is a problem that the Justice fails to break a kind of “Gordian knot”, to act autonomously in the face of the power games that are presented.

“As in the Balda case, there are cases that, although they start with a series of tests, these are immediately mixed with issues of power and of a political nature, which leads to the initial objective of establishing justice being left halfway”, warned.

At the moment, he added, the Balda case has a course, in fact one of the signs of how the country’s politics has been handled in the Correa period is established, of a structural situation, “this is a kind of political mafiation and the submission of the state to the interests of power ”.

Justice
For the Ecuadorian Diego Vallejo, currently asylum in the United States, Justice has ruled in law; “I feel satisfied, partly relieved, Pablo Romero has several accounts to settle and I imagine that the complaints or processes for which he will be held accountable will continue.”

Vallejo was a military member of Ecuador, who during the Correa government received reports of alleged acts of corruption that, however, were the trigger for persecution, for which he had to request asylum in the United States.

“Personally, I was a victim of this intelligence system, with constant monitoring, they wanted to take me to prison, there were institutions that colluded to generate false evidence against a citizen who only reported cases of corruption in the highest parts of the state functions” , he pointed.

On the issue of the sentence against Romero, he added that he aspires to file complaints so that the cause can continue and act in law; “The door is open for more people to pay for their crimes.”

https://www.eltelegrafo.com.ec/noticias/judicial/12/sentencia-romero-ex Presidente-correa