Former presidents advocate for the life of Jorge Glas, political prisoner in Ecuador

Sputnik

La Jornada Newspaper
Saturday, December 7, 2024, p. 18

Quito. More than 200 personalities from 15 countries yesterday asked the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to extend the precautionary measures in favor of the former Ecuadorian vice president, Jorge Glas (2013-2018), imprisoned in a maximum security prison awaiting a trial for alleged embezzlement.

Former heads of state, prominent jurists, congressmen and representatives of international organizations, academia and social movements ask the IACHR to expand the precautionary measures in force, and grant Jorge Glas non-custodial measuresindicated the international committee in favor of the freedom of the former official.

In the letter, released at a digital press conference, concern is expressed for the physical integrity and health of Glas, eight months after his capture inside the Mexican embassy in Quito and his subsequent imprisonment in jail. La Roca, from the city of Guayaquil.

The note adds that the former official has been subjected to torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, as well as a detention regime so severe that it led him not only to go on a hunger strike, but to try to take his own life,” the statement said. letter, which describes the deteriorating health of Glas, who has been diagnosed with persistent personality transformation following a catastrophic experience.

220 personalities sign letter

In the statement, signed by 220 personalities, the aforementioned committee expressed its confidence that the organization will act quickly, without influence of the Ecuadorian electoral calendarfollowing complaints of violations of due process and lack of specialized medical care for the prisoner.

Among the signatories are the Argentine Nobel Prize winner Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, the former Colombian president Ernesto Samper, the former Bolivian president Evo Morales and the former Spanish judge Baltazar Garzón, as well as the former Ecuadorian ruler Rafael Correa (2007-2017), the former foreign ministers Ricardo Patiño and Guillaume Long, as well as the former Ecuadorian presidential candidate Andrés Arauz.

The letter states that on November 14, the United Nations special rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Alice Jill Edwards, warned that Glas’ detention conditions put his life at risk and called attention to the responsibilities of the Ecuadorian State.

Government hostage

However, recently, the National Court of Justice rejected an extraordinary protection action, which is why the committee in favor of Glas’s release considers that all of Ecuador’s institutional channels in this case are closed, since Glas is a political hostage.