Page Seven / La Paz
The first offer Richard Choque received to leave the San Pedro prison was $10,000. He thought that was “a lot” and looked for a cheaper option until he got one for $3,500. A lawyer asked for that amount in exchange for getting out of jail despite having a 30-year prison sentence for the murder of a 20-year-old girl.
“The first doctor (she didn’t remember her name) who gave me Dr. Paco’s number wanted to charge me $10,000. That amount was impossible to collect, so I called the media number and paid approximately between 3,500 and 4,000 dollars, ”said Richard Choque, in the amplifying statement he made in the Chonchocoro prison.
The previous week, the Public Ministry apprehended Carmen S., the lawyer who signed the petition for Choque to be released under house arrest. Prosecutor Johan Muñoz stated that in the search they found an “infinity” of documents and she confirmed that she was only dedicated to processing criminal execution processes. “It was striking that we found a resolution with the same characteristics with which Choque obtained his house arrest and the participants are the same,” he said.
In 2019, Choque requested to leave the San Pedro prison and the First Criminal Execution Court, which was led by then-judge Rafael Alcón, granted him house arrest for 18 months. The resolution was issued without the presence of the plaintiff and with the support of a medical certificate reporting diabetes and gastritis, signed by doctor Freddy T.
However, Choque assured that at no time did he attend a clinic or was checked by a medical professional.
The request was submitted on December 24 and three days after the Christmas holiday, the resolution was signed for him to leave the San Pedro prison.
Before her arrest, lawyer S. said that she “never” defended Choque. “I don’t know the man or his relatives. I only did the favor of signing the memorial to a colleague, Marlene P.”, said the jurist.
He assured that neither Choque nor his relatives contracted his services. Immediately afterwards, attorney P. was arrested.
The Government indicated that persons sentenced to 30 years in prison without the right to pardon cannot leave prison. The Minister of Justice, Iván Lima, affirmed that Choque is part of a structure that “uses the money it obtained to ensure impunity, so that justice does not act.”
At present, the Government formed a commission made up of representatives of the three powers of the State. The authorities have the objective of reviewing all the processes of the Criminal Enforcement Courts in which those sentenced for the crimes of femicide or rape have been released.
The Government detected that from the social worker to the former judge Rafael Alcón they were members of a corruption network that had a specific function of freeing murderers and feminicides such as Richard Choque. For example, Marlene P. was an assistant at the First Criminal Enforcement Court and it was she who helped several criminals find an alternative way out of jail.
