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🇵🇾 Paraguay /Crime & Justice

Ecuador court orders arrest of former president Bucaram so he can hear verdict

From ABC Color · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Newswire From a news agency In the courts
  • An Ecuadorian court ordered police to keep former President Abdalá Bucaram under permanent watch and detain him after he leaves intensive care so he can hear the verdict in an organized-crime case.
  • The hearing has been postponed six times, including three delays linked to Bucaram’s health and hospitalizations.
  • Prosecutors accuse Bucaram, his son Jacobo and two others of benefiting from the sale of 21,000 COVID-19 tests and other medical supplies during the 2020 health emergency.

Ecuador’s courts have ordered the arrest of former President Abdalá Bucaram so he can be present when judges announce the verdict in a case that has already been delayed six times.

The order will not take effect immediately. Bucaram is in intensive care after undergoing surgery on Aug. 25, and police have been instructed to maintain “permanent surveillance” until he leaves the hospital. His lawyers say he has not recovered from the procedure.

Health problems have repeatedly disrupted the proceedings. The first postponement came on Aug. 26, when his lawyers and relatives said he had been admitted for emergency heart surgery. He left the hospital days later, but entered another facility on Monday, the same day the hearing was due to begin. On Thursday, his defense said he was in yet another medical center.

permanent surveillance

· Ecuadorian courtThe court instructed police to watch Bucaram until he leaves intensive care so he can attend the verdict hearing.

Police went to the new hospital in northern Guayaquil, where doctors confirmed that Bucaram was admitted. Officers could not see him because he was in intensive care. The court also ordered Ecuador’s Health Ministry to audit reports issued by the hospitals where he has been treated. If necessary, the ministry could request investigations into possible obstruction of justice by the medical centers.

The prosecution alleges that Bucaram, his son Jacobo and two other people worked with a criminal structure between March and August 2020. Investigators say the group profited from selling 21,000 COVID-19 tests and other medical supplies during the health emergency. Fifty experts and witnesses have testified in a trial that began on April 11 of the previous year, after repeated postponements dating back to 2022.

collaborated, between March and August 2020, with a criminal structure that obtained financial benefits from the sale of 21,000 tests for detecting COVID-19 and other medical supplies during the health emergency

· Ecuadorian Public Prosecutor’s OfficeThe allegation against Bucaram, his son and two other defendants.
About this summary

Originally published by ABC Color in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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