Bolivia opposition leader sentenced to four months pretrial detention on terrorism charges News
© WikiMedia (Dan Lundberg)
Bolivia opposition leader sentenced to four months pretrial detention on terrorism charges

Bolivian opposition leader Luis Fernando Camacho was sentenced Friday to four months of pretrial detention following a seven-hour court hearing on charges of terrorism. Judge Sergio Pacheco issued Camacho’s sentence, which Camacho’s communications team called “armed, dark, abusive, attacking and inconsistent.”

Camacho, who is the governor of the Santa Cruz region, was arrested on 28 December, two months after the Attorney General’s Office of La Paz issued a warrant for his arrest in October. The warrant was a response to Camacho’s failure to show up to court after being requested to do so four times. Following his arrest, unrest broke out in Santa Cruz, with road blockades erected throughout the region. Camacho’s supporters engaged in a 24-hour strike, claiming the arrest was unlawful and demanding the release of their governor. The Attorney General’s Office denied these allegations in a statement released Wednesday.

Camacho will be detained in the high-security Chonchocoro Prison. During this time, an investigation into Camacho’s involvement in the alleged Coup d’etat in 2019 will continue. The investigation is part of a number of legal proceedings regarding the political crisis in Bolivia in 2019, subsequently leading to the resignation of Evo Morales. Earlier this year, former president Jeanine Áñez was sentenced to ten years in prison for inciting the alleged coup.

Camacho’s representatives have stated that they intend to appeal the detention, despite the judge rejecting their arguments of its illegality.

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