The lack of independence of the Bolivian Justice, the overcrowding that persists in the country’s prison system, excessive preventive detention and sexist violence are some of the aspects targeted by the annual report by the human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW ).
The chapter on Bolivia of the HRW report on events of 2021, published this Thursday, begins by questioning that “political interference has plagued the justice system” of the country “for years”.
The report indicates that former President Evo Morales “weakened judicial independence during his almost 14 years in power” and recalls that the 2009 Constitution introduced the figure of judicial elections, but with lists of candidates coming from the Legislature, where the ruling Movement al Socialismo (MAS) has the majority.
“During the Morales government, prosecutors filed what appeared to be politically motivated charges against several of his political rivals,” something that also occurred during the transitional administration of Jeanine Áñez and continues in the Luis Arce administration, the report indicates.
Áñez presented “unfounded accusations against political opponents” and the Arce Administration “supports unfounded and excessive charges of terrorism and genocide” against the former interim president, he says.
HRW recalled that Arce decreed an amnesty in February 2021 for people investigated for crimes related to the 2019 political crisis “which seemed designed to favor his followers.”
This amnesty was revoked in October in response to a recommendation from the report of the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (GIEI) of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) on the 2019 crisis in this country, the entity added.
The agency also mentioned that the GIEI report documented the “serious human rights violations” that occurred during the transitory government of Áñez and acts of violence “instigated” during that of Morales, and exposed “failures” of the Public Ministry to have “investigations appropriate” about these events.
In addition, he recalled that the former president and two of her former ministers have been detained since March 2021 for “terrorism and other charges for their alleged participation in a coup against Morales in November 2019.”
The Bolivian ruling party considers that the 2019 crisis was a “coup d’état” against Morales, while his detractors assure that his departure from power was a consequence of the denunciations of electoral fraud in his favor in the failed general elections of that year.
HRW indicated that the Prosecutor’s Office also accuses Áñez of genocide for the repressions during her government that have been described as “massacres” by the GIEI and other rights defenders.
“Human Rights Watch reviewed the charging documents and found no evidence that she had committed acts of terrorism or genocide,” the report states.
Other aspects
The organization lamented that the impact of the amnesties ordered in the last two years to reduce the “severe” prison overcrowding in Bolivia has been “very small”, since in January 2020, the prisons housed 18,126 people and 17,908 in August 2021 .
Detention centers hold more than 2.5 times the number of detainees they could originally hold, making physical distancing “virtually impossible,” the report states.
It also regrets that the Bolivian justice system continues to use preventive detention “excessively” and that 75% of those detained are awaiting trial, according to information from the Ombudsman’s Office.
On the other hand, HRW observed that Bolivian girls and women continue to be “exposed to a high risk of violence” despite the law in force since 2013 against sexist violence and denounced the existing obstacles to the legal interruption of pregnancies resulting from sexual violations.
In addition, he questioned that indigenous peoples “continue to face barriers to exercising their right to free, prior and informed consent on measures that may affect them” and are “seriously affected” by the fires caused by farmers that reach their territories.
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