October 30, 2024, 4:00 AM
October 30, 2024, 4:00 AM
The sixth anti-corruption Court of the Departmental Court of Justice (TDJ) of La Paz formally opened the oral phase of the ordinary trial against Governor Luis Fernando Camacho and the former civic leader, Marco Antonio Pumari, for the “Golpe I” case, a process in which They are accused of the alleged commission of terrorism, among other crimes.
The day began with the presentation of incidents by Camacho’s defense. After deliberating on the observations raised, the judge rejected them and ordered the start of the oral trial. The Government bet that the sentence against the two accused will be known in two weeks. He bases his expectation on the judge’s decision who scheduled three more hearings until the first week of November. This Wednesday the hearing suspended on Tuesday will reopen.
The process
Yesterday, in the third in-person hearing of this process taking place in the city of La Paz, four specific actions were carried out.
First: the defense lawyers of Camacho and Pumari presented to the judge the “incidents of defective procedural activity”through which the memorial that corrected the observations of the Public Ministry’s accusation is observed.
Second: the sentencing court declared the defense incidents “unfounded” and accepted the corrections of the Prosecutor’s Office to the accusations against the accused, which, according to the accusing party, “were only in form and not in substance.”
Third: The defense of Camacho and Pumari appealed the judge’s decision, however, said appeal was rejected and the incident phase concluded.
Room: the oral phase of the trial began with the presentation of the allegations of all the parties involved, that is, the Public Ministry, the accusers and the defense lawyers.
Right to remain silent
The next step was the presentation of the statements of the accused, that is, Governor Camacho and the former Potosí citizen Pumari. However, they They exercised their constitutional right to remain silent.lawyer Martin Camacho, defense of the governor of Santa Cruz, informed EL DEBER.
“The fact that they have not declared, understanding that the declaration is the first means of defense, does not harm the process in any way,” said lawyer Camacho.
After both abstained from testifying, the judge gave way to the next stage and called the accusing party’s witnesses to testify. As the Prosecutor’s Office did not call any witnesses, that phase of the trial will be addressed at the hearing scheduled for Friday, November 1.
“Every time the Public Ministry has not notified its witnesses, instead of entering into the production of testimonial evidence, it will enter exclude evidence from both the accusers and the defenseThat is, we are going to enter the evidentiary exclusion and on Friday we are going to continue with the witnesses of the Public Ministry,” explained lawyer Camacho.
Accusers
Meanwhile, the State Attorney General’s Office indicated that between November 4 and 5, all witnesses for the prosecution or defense will appear to testify, that is, the witnesses for the accusing party and the witnesses for the defense.
“We estimate that in about two more weeks we will be able to have a sentence. In our case, a conviction against those now accused,” said Deputy Attorney General Ricardo Condori.
Meanwhile, lawyer Víctor Nina, legal representative of Lidia Patty, the main accuser of Camacho and Pumari, announced that on Monday, November 3, the testimonial evidence will begin, that is, with the statements of the witnesses of the accusing party. , “in order to demonstrate illegal acts.”
Lawyer Nina announced that They will call about 50 prosecution witnesses to “show the illicit acts of 2019”, a phase that is expected to take place from Monday, November 3.
Meanwhile, the director of the Penitentiary Regime, Juan Carlos Pinturas, said that the Sixth Anti-Corruption Court notified that instance that it will hold three more hearings: on Wednesday the 30th, on Friday the 1st of November and on Monday the 4th, and guaranteed the transfer of Camacho and Pumari to all appointments with the judge. Regarding the latter, he stated that He will stay in La Paz until the judge issues his sentence. “We are going to continue with the security work these three (scheduled) days. We follow all the protocols that prison security has,” he said.
According to Liminas, the witness testimony phase begins on Friday with 40 people who will be called to testify in a day that is expected to be long.
However, lawyer Camacho stated that it is early to bet that the process will end in two weeks, especially considering the number of witnesses that will be summoned.
