The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) ended this Friday its visit to bolivian and alerted about the serious failures in the judicial system. The report released by the organization indicates that “in Bolivia, historically Justice has been handled instrumentally, depending on the interests of the political power in power”.
The organization also indicated that it received “worrying testimonies indicating that, frequently, judges, judges and prosecutors request money from the accused in exchange for recovering their freedom or not being sentenced, or accessing alternative means or benefits”.
He asked all political forces to reach an agreement consensus in the preselection of judgesfacing the judicial elections that will take place this year and remarked that “An adequate process of appointments and selection of magistrates constitutes an essential prerequisite to guarantee the independence of the operators of Justice”.
the commissioner Emerald Arosemenawho led the procession in Bolivia, mentioned the “worsening of worrying situations in terms of partisan violenceproduct of an extreme political polarization that has caused a fracture in Bolivian society and that urgently needs to be overcome”.
As detailed in the report, these situations derive from the conflict that began in 2019 and that it has left, since then, “deep open wounds” which “will only heal to the extent that high authorities and all those people with political or social leadership, who pronounce themselves on the facts in question, contribute with their discourse to an environment favorable to the reconstruction of the social fabric”.
Arosemena even pointed out that -beyond the political problems and the claims of the people that have been exposed in recent times- this is a historic opportunity for Bolivia to reverse its situation. He encouraged the parties to seek a social agreementemphasizing that “agreement sometimes means renouncing personal or partisan aspirations for the sake of achieve the common good”.
On the other hand, the commissioner referred to the situation in prisons, mainly the Chonchocoro and Miraflores prisonswhere the governor of Santa Cruz is confined –Luis Fernando Camacho– and the former president Jeanine Anez, respectively.
After his visit to both detention centers and after his meeting with relatives of the Governor of Santa Cruz, the IACHR assured that “they take note of the criminal proceedings against these people and recall that, according to inter-American standards, the guarantees of the right to defense, due process and conditions of detention must be respected”.
The report concludes by mentioning that the requests of relatives, among whom a request for a “objective report” of the Human Rights violations against him and the repression against the people of Santa Cruz by the official movement to socialism (MAS) during the 2019 protests, were made “in the knowledge of the State” in the meeting with President Luis Arce.
(With information from Europa Press)
Keep reading:
