Ecuador’s Parliament to decide on impeachment of country’s Ombudsman

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The National Assembly (Parliament) of Ecuador begins to decide this Tuesday (14), in an impeachment trial, whether to censure the Ombudsman, Freddy Carrión, for alleged breach of duties.

The plenary session of Parliament to proceed to the impeachment of Carrión was installed at 9AM local time (14.00 GMT), and by afternoon it had advanced in the reading of more than half of the report of the Commission of Control and Political Control, which holds more than 200 pages.

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Carrión has been held in a Quito jail because he is being prosecuted for an alleged sexual abuse allegedly perpetrated during a party in the apartment of former Minister of Health Mauro Falconí, in the middle of a state of emergency due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

In its report, the Commission of Oversight and Political Control determines that, after all the evidence, testimonies, and documents in which the defendant said he was working and exercising his functions as Ombudsman, there are several breaches to express laws, such as the Law of the Ombudsman and the Organic Law of Public Service.

Likewise, the Commission considers that the non-compliance of regulations related to human rights was configured when he exercised violence and damages against a woman, as evidenced in the videos and the documentation exposed in the criminal proceeding, indicated the Parliament in a statement.

PROCEDURE

In accordance with the provisions of the Organic Law of the Legislative Function, this Tuesday, the accusing assembly members will carry out their opening statement for two hours, based on the evidence requested within the respective evidentiary period.

Afterward, within a maximum of three hours, the impeached official will present his defense before the National Assembly on the accusations against him, based on the evidence requested and presented within the respective evidentiary term.

Then, each party may reply to the other for a maximum of one hour.

At the end of the defense by the official, he must withdraw from the chamber, and the President of the National Assembly shall declare the debate open, in which all Assembly members may participate and present their opinions for a maximum of ten minutes each, without the right to reply.

If a motion of censure and dismissal is not presented at the end of the debate, the petition will be rejected and the case closed.

For Carrión’s dismissal, 70 votes are required, which, according to unofficial estimates, could be reached after the Pachakutik movement announced Tuesday morning its support to the motion of censure.