Judge sends Luis Fernando Camacho to jail for four months

After a marathon virtual hearing that lasted more than seven hours, the 8th Criminal Investigation Judge of La Paz, Sergio Pacheco, ordered to send preventively, for four months, in the Chonchocoro prison to the governor of Santa Cruz, Luis Fernando Camacho, for the process that was followed in the case called ‘coup d’état I’.

The judicial authority heard the allegations of the legal defense of the complainant Lidia Patty, Jorge Nina, the representative of the Attorney General’s Office General of the State, Kaleff Clemor, and of the three members of the commission of prosecutors, among them Omar Mejillones. All of them requested Camacho’s preventive detention for a period of six months.

For their part, the legal representatives of the governor, Juan Carlos Camacho, Martín Camacho and Carlos Ledezma, asked that the departmental authority be released fromstating the violation of their human and constitutional rights.

Attorney General Kaleff Clemor blamed the governor for to put pressure on Evo Morales to present his resignation to the presidency in November 2019. He indicated that the defendant asked that Morales leave his position and that, in the same way, he would have influenced the Armed Forces to act against the president. These facts, he assured, would prove his responsibility in the Coup I case, in which he is accused of terrorism.

The commission of prosecutors said that there are procedural risks against the authority departmental, including not having a habitual residence, a family that can hinder the investigations and the declaration of the others involved if in case he continues at large.

For this reason, he requested the arrest of Camacho in the Chonchocoro prison in La Paz for a period of six months. This request was joined by Lidia Patty’s lawyer, who also made a chronology of the social events registered at the end of 2019 that triggered Morales’s resignation.

“On October 21, 2019, with the motive of coming to power, the accused Fernando Camacho together with the candidate Carlos Mesa They handled a planned term with the purpose of general capsizing after denouncing electoral fraud and thus convulsing people close to Camacho and De Mesa,” he said at the hearing.

For his part, lawyer Martin Camacho considered theto apprehension of the governor as illegal because it was carried out during judicial holidays, thus failing to comply with circular No. 19 of 2022, which prohibits the execution of arrests for criminal offenses.

In addition, he denounced that the rights of his client were violated by stating that He was “kidnapped by the police” when he arrived at his home on Wednesday. He added that Camacho suffers from an underlying disease and that during this day his health deteriorated, for which reason he requires specialized care at a medical center.

He questioned the Prosecutor’s Office and the complaining party because they did not demonstrate the procedural risks nor the probability of authorship. “Evo Morales resigned voluntarily” and not influenced by the governor, she added.

“Your Judge, we do not have, not even as Camacho’s defense, that distort the probability of authorship and procedural risks. ANDIt is the responsibility of the Public Ministry and the accusers to bring sufficient evidence to demonstrate possible authorship and the procedural risks. And in this case, they haven’t,” he argued.

After completing his participation, the lawyer gave the floor to the governor and he indicated that he did not commit any crime, since he only participated in the people’s struggle for democracy. At no time did he refer to the resignation of Evo Morales.

“I tell my people who elected me that I will never give up and that this fight is for democracy in Bolivia. To the Bolivians who listen to me; noor let the masismo impose a dictatorship like in Venezuela and Cuba”, said the governor from Santa Cruz before the judge gave a few minutes of time to deliberate his ruling.

Judge Sergio Pacheco ordered preventive detention for four months for Luis Fernando Camacho for the alleged commission of the crime of terrorism. He ordered him to complete his confinement in the Chonchochoro prison in La Paz.