Judge determines to extend preventive detention for cocalero César Apaza; The defense asks to consider his state of health

At the request of the Public Ministry, the 7th Precautionary Investigation Judge, Luis Fernando García, determined this Thursday during a hearing extend preventive detention to three months in the Chonchocoro prison for the leader of Adepcoca, César Apaza.

The judge’s decision comes in the midst of the fact that the legal defense of the cocalero leader requested that Apaza defends himself in freedombecause due to the state of his health, this could worsen in the prison compound.

The Prosecutor’s Office and accusers asked to extend Apaza’s imprisonment, arguing that the investigation of the case is complex. This occurs after the leader already met the initial six-month term preventive detention.

The defense, made up of Evelyn Cossío and Jorge Valda, asked the judge to César is transferred to a medical center while undergoing a medical evaluation, since they insisted that his current state of health is critical. Said arguments and requests were rejected by the judge in the case.

Cossío denounced that the cocalero leader related to the Movimiento Al Socialismo (MAS), Arnold Alanez, with whom Adepcoca disputes the legal cocoa market, became a victim of the case along with 23 other people.

“TONow there would no longer be 10 alleged victims on Arnold Alanez’s side, but now there are around 24 victims,” ​​questioned the lawyer.

Meanwhile, Judge García ordered that the Institute of Forensic Investigations (IDIF) lead orna medical evaluation of the leader Apaza within a period of three days, in the Chonchocoro prison, and that the results and medical certificate can reach the court.

During the hearing, César Apaza took the floor. Obvious difficulties were heard in his speech, but despite this, he took the strength to threaten to the judge to let him be with his son and defend himself in freedom.

“I see that justice is for a few. I am simply going to ask you, my esteemed authority, to allow me to be by my son’s side and to be able to defend myself in freedom,” Apaza said.

Then he recalled that at the time he was apprehended, he was not in the current state of healthbecause it indicates that he was badly beaten and massacred when he arrived at the jail.

César Apaza was apprehended by orders of the Public Ministry in September 2022, accused of taking and burning the parallel coca market of Villa El Carmen.

While serving his arrest, the leader’s health deteriorated and had to be transferred to the Hospital de Clínicas.

Despite being diagnosed with an embolism, from the Penitentiary Regime it was denied that the leader had suffered this condition and determined to return him to the Chonchocoro prison in the middle of a large operation.