Sebastián Yunda’s aunt assures that he has been released by the Argentine justice; there is still no official version of the event

“The hatred of the Ecuadorian political class and certain media has no limits, my nephew Sebastián was arrested in Argentina, but the justice system in that country ends if he is released, we are victims of an infamous political persecution ”.

That was the message that Lilian Yunda, aunt of Sebastián and sister of the dismissed mayor of Quito Jorge Yunda, and to which he attached a photo that apparently would be current in which Sebastián Yunda would appear after being released.

So far the Ecuadorian authorities have not issued an official statement in this regard. The Ministry of Government has been consulted on the matter, as it was that instance that gave to know, last Wednesday, that Yunda was arrested as part of an operation that had international cooperation between the Police of Ecuador and Argentina. A response is still awaited.

Sebastián Yunda was arrested in Buenos Aires, Argentina, last Wednesday due to a red notice from Interpol (International Police) that weighed against him. He was wanted not only in Ecuador but in 194 countries of the world, once the criminal judge of Pichincha Máximo Ortega ordered him preventive detention for failing to comply with the periodic presentation measure that he initially ordered within the criminal process for illicit association.

From Last September, the eldest son of former mayor Yunda is prosecuted along with his uncle César Yunda and six more people for the crime of illicit association. It is investigated that the defendants accessed privileged information to benefit from money from contracts that would be related to the Municipality of Quito.

After the arrest made by Interpol agents belonging to the Federal Police of Argentina, Yunda was placed under the orders of the National Criminal Court of Federal Correctional number 10 of Buenos Aires, by Daniel Ercolini. “Our similar request to initiate the formal request for detention with a view to extradition through diplomatic channels ”, says the official letter sent to the Ecuadorian justice from Argentina and with which the arrest was confirmed.

Process to extradite Sebastián Yunda from Argentina will run alongside the last month of prosecution for illicit association

According to Interpol, a red notice is a request to law enforcement agencies around the world to locate and provisionally detain a person pending extradition, surrender or similar action. This international organization clarifies that a red notification is an international warning on wanted persons, but it is not an international arrest warrant.

In addition, it is clarified from Interpol that it cannot force the law enforcement authorities of any country to detain a person subject to a red notice. Each member country, it is stated, decides what legal value it gives to a red notice and the authority of its officials law enforcement officials to carry out.

Part of Sebastián Yunda’s defense explained that he had been released because Argentine judicial authorities did not accept the arrest made by Interpol, through the red notice, because apparently the order was “wrongly issued.” “There was no order to appeal to trial,” it was noted. It was known that Argentine lawyers worked in that country to lift the Ecuadorian’s arrest and prevent the extradition from taking place in which the Ecuadorian justice has been working since last Thursday. (I)