In the virtual hearing, which lasted three hours in the First Anti-Corruption Sentencing Court of La Paz, only the accusing parties spoke and concluded with the announcement that Jeanine Áñez will make her first statement tomorrow in a session at the Miraflores prison in La Paz where she has been held since March 2021.
Mejillones said that the same maximum sentence should fall on the former military chiefs and the former police commander accused in the same ordinary trial for the political crisis in Bolivia, which finally entered the debate phase after three sessions of procedural disputes.
The prosecutor argued that Áñez committed a crime of breach of duties by having knowingly acted against the regulations of the Chamber of Senators, which expressly prohibited him from assuming the presidency of that body given his status as a member of the opposition minority.
Jeanine Áñez was the second vice president of the Senate during the crisis that followed the forced resignation of Evo Morales (2006-2019) in November 2019, which was classified as a coup d’état and, without the support of parliamentary votes, successively proclaimed herself president of the Senate. and President of the Republic.
The lawyer for the president of the Senate, who was not identified in the broadcast, agreed with the prosecutor stating that “in compliance with the norm, a sentence is issued declaring the defendants guilty of crimes 153 and 154 of the Penal Code and they are imposed the maximum penalty”.
The penalty for this crime is up to 14 years, according to the Bolivian Penal Code.
The lawyer added that the former president, “in full knowledge of the necessary regulations” and in complicity with the former commanders, assumed the presidency without having given Parliament the possibility of formally knowing the forced resignations of Morales and his vice president. Alvaro Garcia Linera.
These versions were supported by the representatives of the Ministry of Government and the State Attorney General’s Office, who are also accusing parties, alleging that during the crisis the “power vacuum” indicated by Jeanine Áñez and her supporters as the supposed justification for the coup did not occur. of State.
The president of the court, Germán Ramos, closed the hearing with the announcement of a recess until tomorrow, ordering that the debate continue in prison “for the informative statements and the justification of the defense.”
The former de facto president said yesterday on Twitter that she will ratify her declaration of innocence and defend the legality of her management as “Transitory President of Bolivia by constitutional succession.”
Source: Ambito
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