Spain’s PP asks its government to intercede with Bolivia for Áñez to be released and have a fair trial

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The conservative PP (Popular Party) wants the Spanish government to intercede with Bolivia to achieve the release for health reasons of former president Jeanine Áñez and so that she can have a fair trial for the crimes of which she is accused in relation to the events of 2019 that culminated with her coming to power.

The party has presented a non-legislative proposal to which Europa Press has had access. They argue that the current Government “is violating the Human and Civil Rights of the Bolivian people is an indisputable fact”.

Read also: Check out our coverage on Bolivia

Likewise, they defend that the independence and separation of powers have been put “in question” after the return to power of the Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS), given the denunciations of persecution of opponents that have taken place since then and the arrest warrants issued last March against Áñez and other former leaders for “crimes of sedition, terrorism, and conspiracy”.

In its argumentation, the PP underlines that the state of health of Áñez is “worrying” despite which “the response of the Bolivian authorities has been not only to maintain the unjust situation but to increase it, by increasing the term of imprisonment for six more months.”

The former president “suffers from hypertension and depressive anxiety syndrome”, for which “she has asked several times to be allowed to defend herself in freedom or change the prison for house arrest, a request that has been denied.”

For all these reasons, the PP wants the Congress to urge the government, in addition to expressing “its concern for the drift” of the Executive of Luis Arce “and the lack of independence of the powers of the country,” to mediate with him to “achieve the release of all detainees in the context of this context and ensure respect for Human Rights”.

Regarding Áñez, it asks the government to “take the necessary steps” for her “to be released given her precarious state of health, being able to remain in her home until the trial for the alleged crimes she is accused of”.

Likewise, the Government should urge the Bolivian authorities to adopt “the appropriate measures” so that Áñez, whom the Arce Executive accuses of a coup d’état, “has a fair trial with the due process of law”.