Ecuadorian Government Refuses to Release Jorge Glas

On Monday, Ruben Molina, judge of the Specialized Judicial Unit for Penitentiary Guarantees of Portoviejo City, accepted a writ of habeas corpus in favor of Jorge Glas, who was vice president during the presidencies of Rafael Correa and Lenin Moreno.

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In substantiating his decision, Molina mentioned that the Ecuadorian authorities had not adequately attended his needs and had violated his "rights to health and physical integrity." In response to such decision, the administration of the President Guillermo Lasso announced that it will not release Glas.

"The Ecuadorian State's institutions will file the corresponding legal resources and will not make any decision to release any citizen that violates the legal system and contributes to the judicial anarchy to which some judges are trying to lead us," the Lasso administration said through a official statement.

Among other arguments for refusing to comply with the judge's order, the Executive branch indicates that neither the State Attorney's Office nor the national prison authorities were summoned to the habeas corpus hearing.

The tweet reads, "Like every weekend, dozens of people gathered in front of Prison 4, in the north of Quito, to demand the immediate release of former Vice President Jorge Glas. They shouted 'There is no Democracy if there are political prisoners'."

"The country needs to recover legal certainty as a pillar of democratic coexistence," the Lasso administration's statement pointed out.

In April, former Vice President Glas already obtained a habeas corpus issued by a judge in Manglaralto city in the Santa Elena Province

The Justice Court of this province, however, revoked that decision arguing that the local judge did not have the corresponding jurisdiction and had not notified the State Attorney General's Office. That revocation forced Glas to go back to jail after having been free for 40 days.

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