chaos and disorganization It was possible to perceive on the first day of the presentation of witnesses for the prosecution and defense of the parties that are processed within the so-called ‘coup II’ case, summonses by WhatsApp, verbal summons, fiscal errors, were some of them.
“I was not legally summonedthey sent me a text message indicating that I was a witness and that is why I appeared, but they never gave me a physical summons, when I just appeared they told me that I will testify tomorrow”, reported the former Minister of Defense, Javier Zavaleta, who had to leave because people were not allowed to stay in the room of hearings.
It was not the only case, the former deputy, Amilcar Barral, had to make a traveling adventure to reach the audience scheduled for 2:00 p.m. this Monday, because he He found out about his summons on WhatsApp in Cochabamba.
“I was summoned in Cochabamba, I was in other activities there and only a WhatsApp message arrived so that it is at 14:00 and it was already noon; How could I get there from Cochabamba?and since the summons says that they can arrest you, I had to travel as an emergency and get to the hearing,” he said, and regretted that everything had been in vain, because the defense witnesses must return on Tuesday.
As if that were not enough, Luis Guillén, one of the lawyers of the former president, Jeanine Áñez, reported that The Prosecutor’s Office failed to accredit its prosecution witnesses by a formal error and that was qualified as “fatal” by the lawyer, since they cannot be taken into account in the process. The “error” that the prosecutors forgot was to place the personal data (general law) of their witnesses in the formal accusation.
Prosecutor Omar Mejillones complained to the Sentencing Court that the subpoenas had not been issued to summon the witnesses proposed by the Prosecutor’s Office and the president of the same, Germán Jiménez, explained that in the accusation of the Prosecutor’s Office only reference is made to minutes of statements and statements of 17 people, with dates on which they would have been taken. The Prosecutor’s Office then asked to reconsider his memorial to correct it, but his request was unsuccessful.
More than thirty witnesses appear on the payroll that judicial officials who are allowed to enter the courtroom have. Former ministers Teresa Morales and Javier Zavaleta were present this Monday, but other former MAS authorities were also summoned, such as the then deputies, Víctor Borda, Susana Rivero or the former president of the Senate, Adriana Salvatierra.
Also, on the side of defense witnesses were called opposition former deputies such as Amilcar Barral, Omar Aguilar, Rafael Quispe, Rose Marie SandovalCarlos Pablo Klinsky, Tomás Monasterio, Shirley Franco, Carmen Eva Gonzales, Wilson Santamaría, Gonzalo Barrientos and Homer Menacho.
As if they were “benches”, opponents and pro-government members met again and each declared from their perspective on what happened. The masistas assure that there was a coup d’état, while the opponents argued the reasons that led the country to the situation of 2019.