A Bolivian court ruled on Monday that one of the proceedings against former interim president of Bolivia Jeanine Áñez will take place under the figure of responsibility judgment and not by ordinary means as initially proposed.
The case that is being transferred to the special jurisdiction that must now be considered in Parliament is related to an appointment that Áñez made in the Bolivian Food Company (EBA) during his administration in 2020.
Speaking to EFE, lawyer Norka Cuéllar, one of the representatives of the former president, assured that the Fourth Criminal Chamber of La Paz “has restored the rule of law within this process” since the Prosecutor's Office requested that the case be maintained through ordinary channels.
Cuéllar explained that the defense of the former head of state “never sought impunity but to be prosecuted on the path established to the former presidents” of the country, and that is why the process now moves to the Legislative.
What is appropriate is for Parliament to take the case that must be approved in advance by two-thirds of the vote, that is, with the consent of the opposition, since the ruling Movement for Socialism (MAS) does not have enough to give way to that judgment.
The procedure also stipulates that this process be referred to the Office of the Attorney General and the Supreme Court of Justice of the country, which will have to pursue the case at the legislative level.
In Parliament there are also other cases against the former interim president, the most important being the indictment of the deaths of more than twenty civilians in the so-called Sacaba and Senkata massacres in 2019.
The resolution emanated on Monday, when a new hearing was held on the ordinary trial of the “coup d'état II” case in which Áñez is accused of crimes such as breach of duties and resolutions against the Constitution.
Áñez has been detained since March 2021, initially accused of terrorism, sedition and conspiracy in the “coup d'état I” case, which first ordered four months of preventive imprisonment and then extended them to six months.
Then the “coup d'état II” process was opened, which served to extend his detention for a similar period of time.
The latter case is based on the accusation of the Government and the MAS which establishes that Áñez, following the resignation of then-President Evo Morales, his vice-president and the heads of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, illegally assumed the presidency of the country.
For its part, the defense of Áñez assures that at the end of 2019 there was a power vacuum due to the renunciation of the entire line of succession and that it adhered to the procedures of the Constitution.
(With information from EFE)
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