The prosecution had ordered the arrest of Evo Morales last October, which plans to seek a fourth term at the head of the country during the presidential election of August 17. But last Wednesday, judge Moreno had canceled the arrest warrant and the entire procedure started in the department of Tarija (south), ordering its reopening in Cochabamba (center), the political stronghold of Evo Morales. Friday, a Paz judge Franz Zabaleta, had suspended the effects of his decision. Lilian Moreno was arrested three days later, Monday.
According to the Bolivian Information Agency, the magistrate is notably accused of disobedience to court decisions.
Franz Zabaleta spared
“This is an extreme and abusive measure,” said Silvestre Ibañez, also a lawyer for Lilian Moreno, with the public television channel Bolivia TV.
The magistracy council had described on Monday “very serious fault” the decisions of the MORENO and ZABALETA judges on Monday, believing that they did not have the power to rule.
-Franz Zabaleta, however, did not suffer the same fate as Lilian Moreno, the Ministry of Justice even defending his decision. He “corrected Lilian Moreno’s arbitrary and illegal attitude,” said justice Minister Cesar Siles at a press conference.
Morals denies, saying himself victim of a “judicial persecution”
Since October, Evo Morales has been refugee in his fief of Chapare, in the department of Cochabamba, where the police never intervened to try to challenge him. According to the prosecution, in 2015 he had a relationship with a 15 -year -old teenager with the consent of the latter’s parents, in exchange for advantages.
Evo Morales has always rejected these accusations, claiming to be a “judicial persecution” of the government of President Luis Arce, his former Minister of the Economy.
Aged 65, the former president (2006-2019) wishes to return to power despite a judgment of the Constitutional Court limiting the presidential mandates to two.
