The Ecuadorian Public Ministry opened an investigation against the judge who ordered the release of former Vice President Jorge Glas, convicted of corruption, and the opposition accuses the government of interference in justice.
According to a statement, the He opened an investigation for “usurpation of public functions and simulation of public functions”as a result of a complaint filed by the director of the Judicial Council.
Santiago Peñaherrera raised suspicions about the magistrate Rubén Molina, from the city of Portoviejo, who on Monday accepted a request for “habeas corpus” for violation of rights in favor of Glas.
According to the complaint, Molina issued three release orders, including that of Glas, at 4:46 p.m. local time (10:46 p.m. in Lisbon) on Friday, when he was due to be at a hearing in a trial that began at 1:00 p.m.
The service in charge of the prisons of Ecuador also defended that the three orders signed by Molina present “several inconsistencies” and “requested a decision on the validity” of the documents.
The service said that, in relation to the release order for Jorge Glas, who is being held in a Quito prison, the “format, seals and other characteristics of the document completely differ from the document initially issued by the judge.”
On Monday, Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso had refused to take “any decision to release any citizen who violates the legal system,” accusing “some judges of trying to lead Ecuador into judicial anarchy.”
The opposition accused Lasso of interfering in justiceemphasizing that the executive “cannot contradict a constitutional guarantee”, delegitimizing a “habeas corpus” granted on the basis of Jorge Glas’s health problems.
The Latin American Council for Justice and Democracy (CLAJUD), made up of judges and lawyers from different countries in the region, also expressed concern “over the President’s interference (…) in the justice system.”
In April, the former vice president obtained a ‘habeas corpus’ issued by a judge in the city of Manglaralto, in the province of Santa Elena.
However the Provincial Court of Justice revoked the decision of the magistrate, forcing Glas to return to prison on May 21, after 40 days in freedom.
Glas was initially arrested at the end of 2017 and convicted in two corruption cases: one for illicit association related to the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht (with six years in prison); another for bribery for illegal financing of his political movement (eight years),
The former “deputy” was also convicted of embezzlement of public funds in an oil contract, which is still under appeal. Glas has always denied all the accusations, which he said were part of a political persecution movement.
Glas was vice president in the government of Rafael Correa (2007-2017), also sentenced to prison for two corruption offenses.
Source: Observadora
