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Visits to Jorge Glas are an ‘excuse’ to reach ex-agents, says lawyer
Posted On 27 Sep 2018
Ecuadornews:
Although Rafael Correa’s lawyer, Caupolicán Ochoa, does not see any illegality in which a person visits a defendant, for Felipe Rodríguez, defense of Fernando Balda, victim in the case of kidnapping; and Diego Chimbo, lawyer of the two ex-agents prosecuted in this case, the question is how a person who has nothing to do with a detainee goes to visit her in jail.
Both Rodríguez and Chimbo ask Attorney General Paúl Pérez to investigate how and for what, last Monday, Assemblywoman Sofía Espín (before AP), and Yadira Cadena, from Ochoa’s law firm, to Casa de Confianza, to speak with Jéssica Falcón, an exagente who is an effective cooperator of the Office of the Prosecutor.
“How do these people get into prisons so easily? If anyone wants to enter, the answer is no, “said Rodriguez.
According to him, it has been difficult for him to enter to visit someone who wants him to defend him, if he is not registered in the detention center as the detainee’s lawyer or as his family member.
Chimbo affirmed that Espín entered the jail as an assembly member with a lawyer carrying a credential (Cadena). Immediately they would have called Falcon and offered him, he says, protection in the United Nations in exchange for recanting and saying that she was pressured to lie.
“We cannot allow an acting assembly member to go to jail and ask a detainee to lie saying that the State’s attorney general (Paúl Pérez) told her to lie about involving Correa. That cannot happen in a State of law, “clarified the lawyer of the former National Intelligence Secretary.
Last Tuesday, once the trial preparatory hearing was suspended, Pérez said he heard with “surprise” that a visit had been made that has been unknown by the rest of the parties to the proceedings. This, for him, establishes a lack of procedural loyalty and are actions outside the law.
The prosecutor said that he will initiate the pertinent actions, that is, if there is a crime, an investigation will be conducted or other administrative measures will be taken.
Ochoa described the event as an “act of utterly human generosity” in the face of a person who, according to him, is detained without evidence and who is held hostage so that his testimony can be used to commit Correa.
This type of surprise visits, Chimbo explained, would also have occurred several times with his other client, Raúl Chicaiza. He explains that the way to operate in the case of Jail 4 is that they are going to visit former Vice President Jorge Glas and end up contacting Chicaiza to insinuate that he change his version in the process.
“The visitors have been lawyers belonging to the defense consortium of the former president (Rafael Correa), who visiting Jorge Glas is constantly bothering Raul Chicaiza and this is already known to the Prosecutor,” he concluded.
Although the rehabilitation system has no relationship with that Ministry, she said that when a person approaches with the intention of trying to talk with a protected witness, he may be obstructing justice.
He indicated that if the requirements and protocols for visits were not met, sanctions should be applied. (I)
