The defense of the military asks to investigate the officers
Ecuadornews:
It is hardly credible that in the alleged illicit arms trade for the group of alias Guacho, only Army troop members are involved.
Atleast that is the criterion of the lawyers who defend the uniformed detainees in October along with six civilians. That is why the defenders have requested that the heads of the weapons depots give their versions.
When the seven soldiers and a servant of the Ministry of Defense were arrested,Minister Oswaldo Jarrín assured that there were no officers of the armed forces involved. He offered that, if it exists, he would inform it in due time.
But Edwin Romero, who defends Martín Arroyo, imprisoned in the military fort Huancavilca of Guayaquil, thinks differently. The divergences appear at a time when changes are coming in the commands of the Armed Forces.
“The people who were in charge, in charge of the rakes are not prosecuted, they are the absolute responsible because they make the delivery receipt minutes of both the material and ammunition,” he said.
Yesterday,five officers were summoned to the Prosecutor’s Office. Romero and other lawyers came to ask questions. Until noon, only one officer attended. He would have mentioned that during the inspections of the warehouses there were rifles with adulterated numbers and he would have indicated the amount of ammunition that was missing.
Last week, Minister Jarrin ruled out that the suspects had trafficked weapons or explosives. He said that a thorough inspection has been carried out to verify that the inventories are without incident. He acknowledged that what might have existed was “theft and trafficking of munitions across the northern border.”
General Wagner Bravo considered that it is necessary to make a differentiation in this case: criminal investigation, administrative investigation. The officer recalled that, in the criminal case, the investigations began more than a year ago and apparently, with the arrest of the seven soldiers and the six civilians, the network would be complete.
But that, Bravo points out, does not prevent the administrative investigation in the Armed Forces from being carried out to determine if someone did not comply with a control directive for rakes and weapons. “There is an administrative responsibility but that does not mean that the officer or the commander has been involved in the sale and theft of the ammunition,” he said.
The criminal Javier Mejía believes that everything that happens or fails to happenin a military unit is the responsibility of the commander. But it considers that it opens the spectrum to the opening of processes to determine if there were actions or omissions contemplated in the regulation of military discipline.
Remember that the rastrillero or bodeguero (a volunteer, sergeant or corporal) is the person in charge, the one who counts, gives rifles, holds the keys to the warehouse, but over him there is an officer who should have supervised and controlled, he added.
Today from 09:00 the version of other five military, between officials and volunteers, in charge of the areas of Transportation, Services, Logistics,Inventory Planning, among others, is expected. Álvaro Gaybor, the prosecutor ofthe case, also requested for the second time and under legal preventions thework history of the 13 defendants.
Preventive prison
Appeal Hearing
TheCourt of Justice of Esmeraldas convened for Tuesday, December 11, at 08:30, theappeal hearing of the prison against the 13 suspects of integrating a networkof ammunition trafficking for the narcoterrorist front Óliver Sinisterra. Theappeal was requested by the defense of the military Luis Bautista, WálterAngulo, Jikcson Arroyo, Martín Arroyo, José Plaza and Oswaldo Bedón. (I)
Source: https://www.expreso.ec/actualidad/defensa-militares-investigacion-casoarmas-oficiales-LJ2487872