On reading the verdict condemning her to ten in prison for “breaches of duty and resolutions contrary to the Constitution”, Friday June 10, Jeanine Añez, ex-interim president between November 2019 and November 2020, remained unchanged. She received her sentence through a screen, while in Miraflores Women’s Prison, La Paz, where she has been held on remand since March 2021. I was denied the right to be present even at my own trial, if one can call this sham that way”, had posted his family on his Twitter account a few hours earlier.
“I did what I had to do, I assumed the presidency by commitment, I assumed the presidency in accordance with the Constitution, following each of the steps and respecting everything that it says, said the former president Friday morning, in her last statement before the verdict. I feel very proud, and I would do it again if I had the chance. »
The 54-year-old former interim president was on trial for her role in the days leading up to her self-declaration as president on November 12, 2019, when she was the second vice president of the Senate and the country had no more head of state after disputed elections and the resignation of left-wing president Evo Morales (2006-2019).
Highly controversial trial
The prosecution had requested fifteen years in prison and the lawyers of Mme Añez, his acquittal. Former armed forces chief William Kaliman and police chief Yuri Calderon, both fugitives, were also sentenced to 10 years in prison, while three other military and police officers received sentences ranging from two to four years. from prison.
During the last days of the hearing, demonstrators posted in front of the doors of the anti-corruption court in the capital had demanded ” thirty years [de prison] for Anez ». Several left-wing social organizations had threatened to block the country if it was not strongly condemned. The highly controversial trial began in April and took place in record time, according to the defence, given the usual slowness of Bolivian justice, and although appeals launched by the accused in early May delayed the verdict for more than a month.
Interior Minister Eduardo del Castillo expressed satisfaction with the government of Luis Arce, calling the day a“historical”. On the other side of the political spectrum, right-wing ex-president Carlos Mesa called the sentencing a“arbitrary, abusive, illegal and unconstitutional”.
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