Up to 10 years in prison for former officials who protected drug traffickers in Ecuador
Afp
La Jornada Newspaper
Wednesday, November 27, 2024, p. 30
Quito. The Ecuadorian justice system yesterday sentenced 20 people to prison, including former police chiefs, former judicial officials and lawyers, for being part of a corruption structure that benefited a drug trafficker, in a case that uncovered the links between justice and organized crime. .
A court of the criminal chamber of the National Court of Justice (CNJ) declared Xavier N (Novillo) guilty, as author and leader of the organization, for whom he ordered a prison sentence of 10 yearsnoted the CNJ in its X account.
He added that 12 public officials received a sentence of nine years and four months in prison as accomplices to the crime of organized crime.
Among them is Wilman Terán The devilwho at the time of his arrest was president of the Judicial Council, which administers the judicial function, and negotiated rulings to get the drug trafficker Leandro Norero and his relatives out of prison.
Pablo Ramírez, former director of the organization that administers the prisons (SNAI), is also listed as co-author of the crime. According to the prosecution, he received money from Norero in exchange for privileges inside the prison and authorized the release of two men loyal to the drug trafficker.
Seven other people received a sentence of between three and four years in prison. One of them is Claudia Garzón, of Colombian origin, who was part of a pacification commission created by former president Guillermo Lasso as a result of the prison massacres.
Those convicted formed a structure that was responsible for bribing judges, prosecutors and officials to obtain information about investigations, obtain favorable rulings and deliver benefits within the Cotopaxi prison to Norero. Only one former prosecutor was found innocent.
12 others involved in the so-called case Metastasis They had already been sentenced through an abbreviated procedure after accepting their participation in the corruption network that favored Leandro Norero, murdered in a riot in 2022, with judicial rulings and prison benefits.
The case Metastasis broke out in December 2023, a year after Norero’s death The Pattern, who was also wanted by Peruvian authorities.
