The first advance statements of witnesses and defendants in the case called ‘Judicial Independence’ in Ecuador They pointed to alleged coordination of the former president Rafael Correa with the former president of the Judicial Council Wilman Terán and other judges to suspend the attorney general, Diana Salazarand review the sentence that weighs on the former president to allow his return to the country.
Throughout the marathon interrogation hearing in which Salazar herself participated, the former member of the Judiciary Council appeared Xavier Muñoz y Alex P. y Marcela V.two former officials of the same Judiciary body.
These three people agreed to give their testimony before the start of the trial in this case, where thirteen people are accused, including Muñoz and Terán, who is in preventive detention for his accusation also in the case. ‘Metastasis’a plot of judicial corruption discovered through the analysis of the murdered drug trafficker’s phone Leandro ‘El Patrón’ Norero.
According to the fragments of the statement published by the Prosecutor’s Office, Muñoz testified that Correa offered him political support from his parliamentary bloc in the face of possible political trials against him in the National Assembly in exchange for supporting Terán.
The former member of the Judiciary Council reported that he met on March 30, 2023 with Correa in a hotel in São Paulo (Brazil), city where he also met the judges of the National Court.
Muñoz indicated that he learned from the judge Byron Guillen that was allegedly being planned in an appeal to review the sentence in the case Bribesin which Correa was sentenced to eight years in prison for bribery and political disqualification.
«And so Rafael Correa can return to the country»said Muñoz about the former president, who has resided in Belgium since 2017, where he has refugee status, rejecting the accusations against him and declaring himself politically persecuted.
This meant, in return, that the judges involved could extend their stay in the National Court up to nine years old.
«When I returned (from Sao Paulo) to Ecuador, I met with Wilman Terán and he already knew about my meeting with Rafael Correa»indicated Muñoz.
The former spokesperson also referred to an alleged plan to suspend Attorney General Diana Salazar, who was in charge of prosecuting the case. Bribes and to which Citizen revolutionthe party whose leader is Correa, seeks to open a political trial in the National Assembly.
For his part, Palacios assured that Terán was allegedly talking to Correa through the Wire telephone application.
«Mr. Wilman Terán and Mr. Xavier Muñoz were drinking, and through an application called Wire they communicated with Rafael Correa. “I entered the room where they were talking and I listened, I was an eyewitness to it.”Palacios said.
“They said that they were going to be in charge of making all the arrangements to be able to favor this review resource”he added.
The former official stated that Terán was the one who prepared the judicial resolution of precautionary measures that allowed the former vice president to be released from jail. Jorge Glasnow back in prison after being detained inside the Mexican Embassy in Quito after having received asylum from the Mexican Government.
He pointed out that Terán did it when he was not yet president of the Judiciary to gain the favor of the Citizen Revolution within the Council for Citizen Participation and Social Control (CPCCS)the person in charge of designating that authority.
Regarding these statements, Correa specifically referred on social networks to a fragment of Muñoz’s testimony, which he described with a clown emoticon.
“I think he has done the duty that Diana Salazar ordered him very badly”said the former president to suggest that, for him, these statements have the same tenor as the processes against him, where he has always declared himself innocent and unjustly persecuted. EFE (I)
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