The temporary former president of Bolivia Jeanine Áñez was sentenced this Friday to 10 years in prison for the events of 2019 that occurred between November 10, the day on which Evo Morales resigned from the Presidency of the country, and November 12, when the then senator temporarily assumed power.
At 9:30 p.m. local time on Friday, the First Sentencing Court of La Paz virtually announced the conviction against Áñez for the crimes of breach of duties and resolutions contrary to the Constitution and indicated that the full text of the resolution will be released. at a hearing on June 15.
The trial for the "coup d'état II" case discussed Áñez's actions when she was second vice president of the Senate and assumed the presidency in 2019 in an allegedly irregular manner, according to the government of Luis Arce and the ruling party, Movimiento al Socialismo (Movement to Socialism). MAS), after the resignations of Evo Morales and the entire line of presidential succession.
The Government of Luis Arce partially celebrated this Friday the sentence of 10 years in prison for Jeanine Áñez, considering that a "historic precedent" was set, although it also anticipated that it is just the beginning of the processes against the former interim president, who will also prosecute for the deaths caused during the 2019 crisis.
The Ministry of Justice pointed out in a statement that "the sentence is a historical precedent so that a coup d'état will not be repeated from the rupture of the constitutional order," the note indicates.
The main opposition leaders, for their part, rejected a sentence by a politicized Justice. "The masismo has just committed one of the most infamous political crimes in Bolivian history, by using the servile justice system to convict a former constitutional president without any evidence or crimes," former Bolivian president Carlos Mesa (2003-2005) wrote on Twitter. ). "The setback of democracy and the rule of law is shameful," added the also leader of the opposition alliance Ciudadana Community.
Carolina Ribera, daughter of Áñez, told the Efe agency that this "trial has been rude" and that at the time of the announcement of the sentence, the former interim president was without any of the lawyers, who, like all parties, listened to the determination virtually.
In her last statement this Friday morning, Áñez stated that "what political power is doing to me is taking revenge." "They have denied me the right to be present even at my own trial, if that is what this drill can be called. They have denied me everything and treated me worse than anyone, but I was, am and will be the Constitutional President who assumed her duty after the flight of the coward", he denounced.
He also said that he did not have the "ambition" to assume the Presidency and that he only fulfilled his duty and that, in his opinion, the "only ambitious" was former President Evo Morales "who did not respect the Constitution" since 2016 when he paid attention ignored the results of a referendum that denied him a fourth consecutive term.
Áñez had to face the entire trial virtually from jail, because according to the authorities it was a preventive measure due to the pandemic and then argued that there was a "flight risk", despite the insistent requests of her defense that she could attend personally. to the audiences.
The temporary former president must serve her sentence in the Miraflores prison, where she has been held preventively for more than a year.
Áñez's "ordeal" began on March 13, 2021 when, in an operation led by the General Commander of the Bolivian Police, Jhonny Aguilera, and several officials from the Prosecutor's Office, she was arrested in her native Beni and then taken to La Peace on a military plane under heavy police guard.
In principle, the Justice opened a case for the crimes of sedition, terrorism and conspiracy for the 2019 post-election crisis that led to the resignation of then-president Evo Morales, which for the ruling party was a "coup d'état". From that case the "coup d'état II" process was derived, for which she was sentenced yesterday.
Áñez's imprisonment has been marked by health problems such as hypertension, nervous breakdowns and depression, with moments in which she caused injuries or the hunger strike she held for more than two weeks to demand to be able to defend herself in freedom.
Jeanine Áñez assumed the interim command of the country as second vice president of the Senate on November 12, 2019, two days after the resignation of Evo Morales and all officials in line of presidential succession.
Áñez was, until then, a politician with little relevance who had to activate the succession mechanism, without the necessary quorum in Parliament, where the majority belonged to the MAS, an action that was supported at the time by the Constitutional Court after a interpretation of the rule on cases of power vacuum.
The defense of the former president as well as the Prosecutor's Office, the Ministry of Government and the State Attorney's Office have already confirmed that they will appeal the ruling.
The Court also announced a sentence of 10 years in prison against the former commander of the Armed Forces Williams Kaliman, and the former commander of the Police Yuri Calderon, whose whereabouts are unknown, and, in addition, four other former members of the forces were sentenced to sentences of between four and two years.
