Cayambe Police Major Rafaela Montoya was declared innocent of the accusation of slander by two lawyers from the Public Defender’s Office, criticized by her after the release of four criminals who had been arrested in flagrante delicto.
The judge who heard the case not only confirmed her state of innocence, but also described the accusation against the officer as malicious and reckless, which gives rise to legal action against them, but which will not be followed to settle the discrepancy right now, he commented. After the hearing, lawyer Gustavo Valle, a member of the Department of Institutional Defense of the National Police.
The judge did not find support in the accusation against Montoya, who declared on November 19 that it is unethical for the public defenders who sponsored four criminals caught with electrical appliances that they had just stolen from a home to meet with the victim of the assault to offer you a settlement agreement.
At the hearing, in which the lawyers intended to imprison the police officer, the judge stressed that she, like any citizen, has the right to freedom of expression and to criticize public officials -in this case, the lawyers of the Public Defender’s Office – for the exercise of its functions.
The resolution means a great precedent, said the lawyer who defended Montoya, because it helps the Police to act against the commission of crimes.
“As Police officers we need inter-institutional help so that we can fight crime in a coordinated manner.”
Upon leaving the hearing, the older woman avoided giving statements, but the members of the Department of Institutional Defense of the National Police stated that “this is not a fight between institutions, here there was a blunder on the part of the lawyers of the Public Defender’s Office who They filed the complaint, but it all ends here.”
The case originated last November 19 in Cayambe, 67 kilometers from Quito, when Montoya gave a press conference in which he stated that four assailants were released the day after being captured for robbery, because their public defenders went to look for the victim to offer him a payment of $800 to drop the accusation.
The legal procedure that was applied was that of conciliation, but according to Montoya, it was not taken into account that among three of the Ecuadorian detainees (the other is Venezuelan) there are 18 judicial processes for robbery, drug possession and accusations of murder. “We understand that the procedure is legal, but we highlight the active participation of the Public Defender’s Office” to defend the accused, complained the official, who gave the names of the lawyers who are suing her today for alleged slander.
In a live broadcast of the portal The Hemispheric from Cayambe, the officer referred to conciliation as “a good deal” for the assailants: “I robbed five times, they arrested me once and with that I did make a reparation agreement. And the other victims? There were no reparation agreements with them because they were not detained.”
“We feel frustrated because we do our best job as a police officer and we find these responses from the administration of justice, which may be legal, but how ethical is it to have public defenders for the accused and not for the victims?”, he declared. two months ago the official, who this time did not speak to the press, but did thank the residents and local authorities who went to support her outside the courthouse.
The victim of the robbery regretted filing a complaint against the apprehended who forced entry to his home “because he did not want to have problems with them later.”
Despite this, the prosecutor in the case issued an accusatory opinion and requested preventive detention for the criminals, which was accepted by the judge, but according to Officer Montoya’s account, at that time the public defender said at the hearing: ” We already have a reparation agreement with the victim, ask him if he agrees to be paid $800″. And he said yes.
The apprehended, once released, lowered their masks to show their smile to the policemen who caught them and left.
The deputy mayor of Cayambe, Katherine Montenegro, supported the work of the Police and asked the Assembly to reform the Comprehensive Organic Criminal Code (COIP), “because it has their hands tied” to act against crime. (I)
Source: Eluniverso
Mario Twitchell is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his insightful and thought-provoking writing on a wide range of topics including general and opinion. He currently works as a writer at 247 news agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
