Former President Mesa assures that there is “procedural fraud” in the ruling against Jeanine Áñez in Bolivia

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The former president of Bolivia, Carlos Mesa, considered this Sunday that the 10-year prison sentence against the former interim president Jeanine Áñez is a “great procedural fraud” that violated the rule of law and accused the Justice and the Public Ministry of acting “under the orders” of the Bolivian ruling party.

In a video broadcast on his social networks, Mesa (2003-2005) maintained that last June 10 “will be remembered as an infamous day” in which “a great procedural fraud” was committed by sentencing Áñez to 10 years in prison “for a crime that did not exist, for a brazen invention, a coup d’état that is in the minds of those who forged that alleged act to whitewash the gigantic fraud” in the failed general elections of 2019.

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“This procedural fiasco, this deception of the country, this arbitrary way of acting that is autocratic and that shows that the obsequious Justice and the servile Public Ministry are working under the orders of (former president) Evo Morales and (president) Luis Arce”, he stated.

The historian also stated that the “express process invented by the Ministry of Justice” cannot be accepted, which, in his opinion, has violated basic elements of the rule of law and the human rights of the accused, establishing “revenge” as the aspect center on which the trial against Áñez was based.

“What kind of democracy is this in which the accused is preventively detained before knowing her accusation?” Mesa questioned and pointed out to the government’s Movement to Socialism (MAS) of moving under a “destructive logic”.

He also argued that one cannot “continue to tolerate this rotten Justice, this completely rotten Public Ministry”.

The Bolivian Prosecutor’s Office and the Judicial Branch have been targeted for chronic problems such as procedural delays or corruption, but also for a lack of independence, as international entities such as Human Rights Watch (HRW) have observed.

Mesa also rejected the official “threat” of new trials against opposition leaders, including himself, due to the 2019 post-election crisis that led to the resignation of Morales from the Presidency of the country and that for the Arce Government and the MAS was a “coup”.

The former president deplored that whoever makes this “threat” is “the one who mocked” the results of the 2016 referendum that rejected a new Morales candidacy for a fourth consecutive term.

In addition, he accused Morales of having had “the capacity of the conspiracy to leave a power vacuum” by leaving the country after his resignation and pretending that with the vacancy “the constitutional succession would be cut off”.

“That is the logic of those who have total power and want to keep it indefinitely,” he said and assured that this will not be tolerated and that a “democratic” response and dialogue will be given.

He reiterated his request to the United Nations and the European Union to speak out about the events of 2019 and summoned the authorities to respond if these entities that facilitated dialogue during the crisis “are also accused” of having given a “coup”.

Áñez was sentenced on Friday to 10 years in prison for the events of 2019 that occurred between November 10, the day Evo Morales resigned from the Presidency of Bolivia, and November 12, when the then-senator temporarily assumed power.

The Minister of the Presidency, María Nela Prada, ratified in an interview with the state channel Bolivia TV the position of the Bolivian Government before the ruling, considering that the sentence “sets a historical precedent regarding the ruptures of the constitutional order” and that it is known that “no one can self-proclaim” authority.

She also stated that it was “a historic first step and must be followed until justice is achieved” for those killed and injured in 2019.

With information from EFE