Bolivia: suspension of the trial of ex-interim president Jeanine Añez
File photo taken on March 13, 2021 of Bolivia's former interim president Jeanine Añez talking to her lawyers in a cell of the Special Force for the Fight against Crime (FELCC) after being arrested in La Paz.
LUIS GANDARILLAS AFP/Archivos
Text by: RFI Follow
1 min
The trial of Jeanine Añez was suspended Thursday, February 10, barely two hours after the start of the public hearing in La Paz, on the decision of the judges of the anti-corruption court.
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With our correspondent in La Paz,
Alice Campaignolle
Barely two hours after the start of the public hearings, the judges of the anti-corruption court decided to suspend the trial against Jeanine Añez, sine die.
It was a virtual hearing that took place on Wednesday,
the new normal since the Covid-19 pandemic.
The ex-acting president was briefly seen on video, from Miraflores prison where she has been in preventive detention for almost a year.
In the disorder of this hearing, where the microphones were not plugged in, where the connections worked badly and where everyone wanted to speak at the same time, the lawyers of the former head of state argued procedural flaws so that the trial cannot start.
“
In this specific case, the problem came from the decision to open the procedure.
Indeed, this decision was written by a substitute judge, so it is a substitute judge who will tell the court what it must judge?,
protests Luis Guillen.
And in addition, this document contains denominations like "illegal presidency", so there is already a judgment even before any procedure, and we cannot do such a thing
.
»
The defense of Jeanine Añez is determined to use all possible means to hinder the procedure.
The former president, in this so-called coup case, faces up to twelve years in prison.
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