‘Do you want to prove my power?’: the controversial Lorena Collantes, remembered for this expression, wins protection action and has her reinstated as judge

Lorena Collantes Loor, who starred in a scandal in November 2016 when leaving a restaurant in Urdesa, will return to her position as judge after a court ruling in her favor.

At the end of 2016, videos in which Collantes was seen apparently insulting and struggling with police officers went viral on social networks. In one of the videos that circulated, she was heard saying to one of the uniformed officers: “Do you want to test my power?”, a phrase that she jokingly popularized.

For these facts, the Prosecutor’s Office filed charges against him.

Criminal Chamber of Guayas confirms the innocence of former judge Lorena Collantes for the crime of attack and resistance to police

Two years later, in 2018, a court handed down a sentence of six months in prison for these acts accused of the crime of attack or resistance, stipulated in article 283 of the Comprehensive Organic Criminal Code (COIP).

Then, in November 2020, a Guayas Criminal Chamber confirmed the former judge’s state of innocence.

In 2016, the Judicial Council indicated that, according to the police report corresponding to the time of her arrest, Collantes claimed the position of judge. However, by November of that year, she no longer belonged to the Judiciary.

On October 28, 2016, the former magistrate was working as a judge for Family, Women, Children and Adolescence of Guayaquil and a disciplinary file was opened against her that led to her dismissal.

Now, the sentence in favor of the protection action against the Council of the Judiciary and the State Attorney General’s Office, which was granted on January 11, is based on an “evident violation of the right to defense and due process contemplated in article 78 of the Constitution”.

For this reason, the reinstatement of Collantes is ordered “to the functions that she had been performing as a judge of the North Florida Judicial Unit for Family, Women, Children and Adolescents of Guayaquil or another similar position as a judge of First Instance.”

To comply with this provision, 10 days were established from the notification of the sentence. On January 16, the official letter was issued with the opinion.

On October 26, 2022, Collantes filed this measure, which was dealt with in the Criminal Judicial Unit based in the Quevedo canton.

Former judge called to trial for the crime of attack or resistance

In addition to the reimbursement, as detailed in the judgment in favor, it is established that the payment of the remunerations with their respective interests and other legal benefits be proceeded. The amounts to be canceled will be calculated from their dismissal until their effective reinstatement.

For these payments, a term of 60 days is established and the payment process is carried out through the Administrative Litigation Court legally.

The Council of the Judiciary must also express its public apologies through the media, the entity’s institutional website and “in the proportionality that this Judiciary corresponds to it for the unfair dismissal that was carried out” against Collantes Loor. (YO)