Bolivia: Prosecution demands 10 years imprisonment for ex-president Jeanine Áñez

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Bolivian Prosecutor’s Office has announced that, in the trial, it will request a ten-year prison sentence against the country’s former President Jeanine Áñez for having “self-proclaimed” and assumed the Presidency in 2019.

Prosecutor Lupe Zabala has informed that Áñez is accused of the crimes of breach of duties and resolutions contrary to the Bolivian Constitution and laws in the framework of the ‘Coup d’Etat II’ case, which is the extension of the ‘Coup d’Etat I’ case.

THE ÁÑEZ CASE

According to the investigation, the former president took command of the Senate in a session without a quorum and formed a minority force, contrary to what is established in the Debate Regulations. Later she “self-proclaimed” herself president of Bolivia in a session where there was no agreement either.

The Attorney General’s Office advised on Monday (29) about the presentation of the formal accusation for these crimes. Its secretary, Edwin Quispe, indicated on Tuesday that “one of the questions and curiosities that has echoed among the population is the fact that (the accusation) has not been subjected to a privileged procedure but an ordinary procedure, since for some it would be about a former president.”

In this sense, he insisted that “the Golpe I and Golpe II cases have to do with the actions attributed to Mrs. Jeanine Áñez before she was self-proclaimed president”, reports ‘Página Siete’.

According to Quispe, in the indictment, “all the factual elements” have been compiled to prove the responsibility of Áñez, against whom “more than 79 pieces of evidence that are duly codified have been presented, more than almost twenty witness statements that indicate that Áñez would have adapted her conduct to the criminal type provided in article 156 of the Penal Code, (…) in addition to having adapted her behavior to article 154.″

From her Twitter account, Áñez questioned the accusation this Monday, stating that the objective is to condemn her “at any price”. “They do not care about the independence of the Judiciary, the right of the people to protest the fraud committed by the Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS, ruling party),” she said.