Two police officers are called to trial for the crime of robbery with death that occurred in Cuenca in August 2022

In Cuenca, the case was initially investigated as a crime perpetrated by an antisocial, but then the figure changed radically after the dissemination of a security video by a relative of the murdered.

There, three policemen were observed who apparently took various objects from the house where the body was found, which they later placed in the trunk of a patrol car.

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The body of Vinicio Bautista was found lifeless on August 25, 2022. The corpse had its hands tied and already in the afternoon the then zone commander of the Police in charge acknowledged that three uniformed officers from the institution were apprehended in the case.

With the passage of the investigation, one of the three detainees was released, but the legal process against the other two is still ongoing.

In January of this year, during the pretrial hearing, details of what happened the day Bautista’s body was found were exposed.

The two policemen involved in this crime of robbery with death entered the house of the now deceased, presumably they took clothes, a gold chain and they would have participated in the crime, the procedure said.

On February 3, the judge in charge of the case issued a court order against the two uniformed officers, but the date has not yet been set.

This case was one of those that most shook Cuenca in 2022 due to the elements it included. First, because it evidenced the insecurity in which people live in the city; then, because of the coldness with which the crime occurred; and third, perhaps the most shocking, that two policemen are the suspects in the act.

The week of August 25, 2022 was very alarming for the citizens of Cuenca, because in less than five days there were three crimes. First this murder, then the case of the man covered in cement in a bathtub, and then the appearance of a decapitated body in the river.

On the morning of that August 25, the news spread rapidly and the only detail revealed was that a man lay wrapped in a sheet, his hands tied and his body literally bathed in blood.

Until noon, the Police did not speak of suspects, but everything changed when a relative of the deceased came to the scene of the crime to show a revealing video: that of a security camera that showed a patrol car parked outside the home, as well as two police officers. that went in and out with plastic covers to put in the trunk.

As minutes passed, it became known that the victim was Vinicio Bautista, a resident of the United States from Cuenca who was a few days away from opening a clothing business in the city. He worked for several weeks on the implementation of the premises, he had practically everything, even the showcases, but that objective was cut short with his murder.

The case generated pressure in the local police command and at 6:00 p.m. on August 25, the zone commander in charge, Édison Padilla, acknowledged in a press conference that there were three of his colleagues, subordinates, detained and who worked in the preventive area.

They arrived at the place where the body was found to answer an emergency call sent from ECU911.

The following day, August 26, the Azuay prosecutor Leonardo Amoroso declared that the gendarmes arrived to deal with an emergency at 05:50 (on the 25th) and once their identity was confirmed they were detained, and in their possession They found various evidences and indications.

Among those, he said, clothes, shoes, a computer, a gold chain, a knife, an identity card and blood stains from the official uniform and boots.

The situation generated the rejection of the prosecutor Amoroso, who declared: “We are at the mercy of bad elements that, by stealing a computer, a chain, clothes, shoes, commit this type of crime.”

One aspect that also provoked criticism was that when the two uniformed men on trial appeared at the first hearing, they accepted their right to silence, so their motivations were unknown.

A month and a week after being arrested and therefore not going to work, the police officers involved continued to collect their salaries, which caused additional citizen outrage.

On October 7, 2022, the commander of the Azuay Subzone, Hugo Arroyo, justified that it would be like this “as long as there is no final sentence, they are police personnel on active duty”, but days later, the new zone commander, Xavier Rosero, He denied his subordinate.

Vinicio Bautista’s family was surprised by the fact, because they did not understand what had motivated the man’s crime. And that is why they decided to continue with the legal process against the gendarmes.

During the pretrial hearing that was reinstated on February 3, Judge Luis Barahona found sufficient elements to call them to trial.

This call was developed in a hybrid mode, since the two detainees who remain in the Turi Deprivation of Liberty Center and the defense attorney for the Bautista family joined the diligence through the internet.

Meanwhile, a prosecutor and the defense lawyers of the uniformed officers involved were present in the room.

This newspaper contacted one of the relatives of the victim who lives in Cuenca, however, he did not want to talk about the case. Many of the relatives of the now deceased are based in the United States.

For his part, Rómulo Argudo, Cristian AA’s lawyer, after the pretrial hearing, assured that in the next instance he will prove the innocence of his client.

He maintained that although the judge in his motivation explained that in the possession of his client the victim’s clothes were found, blood on his police uniform and that he was present at the crime scene, that does not necessarily mean that he participated in the act, especially when his criterion has not shown that he executed the crime.

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Meanwhile, on the day of said proceeding, only a partner of the buffet went to listen to the hearing, not the main lawyer of Marco NM, the other police officer prosecuted in the case, for which reason he avoided making statements to the press.

As for the start date of the trial against the accused uniformed officers, it is not yet known. (YO)