Bolivian judiciary confirms pretrial detention of former interim president for “Coup d’état I”

The First Criminal Court of La Paz in Bolivia decided Wednesday to confirm the preventive detention of former interim President Jeanine Áñez (2019-2020) and two former cabinet ministers in the case known as “Coup I.”

The Criminal Chamber declared the defense arguments inadmissible and confirmed the judicial decision to extend the detention of the accused in the first case against Áñez.

The rapporteur pointed out that the investigation is complex, involving many defendants, victims, and witnesses.

Still, there is also a need to carry out further investigative actions based on the testimonies and investigations in the case.

This Wednesday’s hearing was an appeal hearing in which the defense requested that the decision of the judge of the first instance, who on Aug. 16 ordered the extension of the pretrial detention of the accused for three months due to the complexity of the investigation, be overturned.

Áñez and his former ministers of Justice, Álvaro Coimbra, and of Energy, Rodrigo Guzmán, have already spent more than 18 months in prison in this case without being convicted.

Áñez’s lawyer, Alain de Canedo, believes that the former president should be released because the coup I case does not apply.

He argued that of the three offenses of terrorism, sedition, and conspiracy, two have already been removed from the legal system by a constitutional ruling and that the prosecution has also requested an extension of the investigation period using the same arguments already led to other extensions.

There are three cases against Añez that are in due process. One is called coup d’état I for allegedly committing crimes of sedition, terrorism, and conspiracy.

She is in pretrial detention in that case.

In a second case, Coup II, the former interim president, was sentenced on June 10 to 10 years in prison for dereliction of duty and decisions contrary to the Constitution and the law.

She has been imprisoned since March 2021 in the Miraflores women’s prison in the Bolivian city of La Paz (West), where the judiciary has decided that she should serve the 10-year sentence.

The third concerns the irregular appointment of her relative Karina Fabiola Leiva Áñez de Ruiz as head of the Bolivian Food Company (EBA) in 2020.