June 27, 2023, 10:02 AM
June 27, 2023, 10:02 AM
Almost 11 years after the murder of Indira Chizuko Herrera, her ex-husband Windsor Andia Rivera – accused of being the material and intellectual author of the dramatic event – was sentenced to 30 years in prison without the right to pardon. However, the sentenced man enjoys freedom, granted by justice, despite the evidence against him for having victimized whoever his partner was.
Chizuko’s parents could not witness the ruling and died crying out for justice. Her father, Milton Robert Herrera, died in the middle of the pandemic and Asako Inamine Takei, died on April 13 as a result of cancer that left her bedridden when she was facing her fight in search of a ruling against the murderer of her daughter. her.
It was the first sentencing court, made up of Jesús Egüez, Lucio Condori and Moisés Colque, which issued the sentence in the presence of the defendant with four of his defense attorneys and family members of the victim.
When Indira Chizuko’s brothers heard the sentence they hugged each other and cried inconsolably. “Finally, justice was done, but my parents, who so longed to see this moment, couldn’t, they left waiting,” said one of the victim’s older brothers.
However, the Prosecutor’s Office represented by prosecutor Rose María Barrientos Ruiz, who took the case to the end, harshly questioned the court that refused to order Andia Rivera’s detention in jail.
The prosecutor – at the end of the reading of the ruling – asked to modify and revoke the freedom of Windsor Andia Rivera who enjoys freedom with house arrest, considering that he is an imminent risk of flight. The prosecutor argued that the defendant throughout the trial hindered the development of the process and that it is already the second conviction for the murder of his ex-partner, so there is an urgent need for the judges to order his immediate arrest to avoid his possible escape and that everything remains in impunity.
The representative of the Ministry of Justice in Santa Cruz, Paola Montenegro, adhered to the prosecutor’s request and asked the judges to immediately modify and revoke the measure and order the man’s arrest “to avoid impunity.” Likewise, Municipal Comprehensive Legal Services, asked the court to order the arrest of Andia Rivera, also considering that throughout the process she put up obstacles. In addition, they indicated that, according to the proceedings, the defendant always exerted physical and psychological violence on Chizuko, until he murdered her.
But the court denied the arrest request on the grounds that Andia Rivera has a job, a home and must remain free.
The prosecutor expressed her disappointment and stated: “Be careful, judges, that with your ruling the same thing happens as in the Yapacaní case where a subject killed a child because he was free. In this process, be careful that by allowing Andia Rivera to defend herself in freedom, another fatality appears. You will be directly responsible, “warned Barrientos.
Before the court pronounces the sentence, it gave the opportunity for the defendant to assume his defense. Windsor Andia Rivera, limited himself to telling the court that he was innocent and that he never committed the crime.
While the victim’s sister asked the judges to do justice. “For more than 11 years my mother fought for justice to be done, you gentlemen judges act, condemn this murderer who cut my sister’s life short. He did not have the shame of leaving his own son an orphan ”, she exclaimed.
In the end, the judges unanimously sentenced Andia Rivera to 30 years without the right to pardon, considering that the evidence provided by the Prosecutor’s Office generated the conviction of the existence of the fact and the links with the accused. However, he was not sent to jail.
The victim’s relatives, after reading yesterday’s sentence and the court’s refusal to order Andia Rivera’s arrest and release him, questioned vehemently. “It is not possible for the judges to let him go free. It seems that this is on the way to impunity, any minute he escapes from the country”, said Naomi, Indira Chizuko’s sister.
Three trials, two sentences
To reach a sentence of 30 years in prison without the right to pardon, the victim’s family made a pilgrimage in search of justice. The Prosecutor’s Office and the Felcc accumulated evidence. The main ones, through the triangulation of calls from the cell phones of the victim and the defendant Andia. The calls matched the time and place of contact between them.
In addition, after Indira Chizuko was murdered, her phone appeared at Andia Rivera’s house.
The Prosecutor’s Office stated that the witnesses were threatened by the defendant, to the extent that one of them was wounded with a shot from a firearm so that he would not testify. A key witness saw Windsor Andia on his motorcycle as he arrived and shot Indira Chizuko and then drove off.
Likewise, the investigations indicate that Andia Rivera threatened Indira’s brother using a revolver, but she covered her hand with a glove to erase any evidence of gunpowder.
Initially, a court acquitted Andia Rivera. Then, Judge Carlos Mendieta’s court sentenced him to 30 years without the right to pardon. Evert Álvarez’s criminal chamber annulled the ruling in favor of the defendant and ordered another trial.
For this reason, the third trial took place at the request of the Prosecutor’s Office and the Ministry of Justice, and he was sentenced to 30 years in prison, but now Andia Rivera is free.
