KEYSTONE / AP / JUAN KARITA
Bolivia’s former interim president Jeanine Añez will remain in pre-trial detention for at least three more months, according to a court ruling. On hunger strike since February 9, she has been imprisoned since March 2021.
“The request for extension of pre-trial detention can be granted for a period of three months,” the judge said during an online hearing.
“They continue to punish me at the whim of my executioners. The terrorism case does not exist. They have not proven anything since they kidnapped me. I am innocent”, tweeted the right-wing ex-president , in power between 2019 and 2020, after the hearing.
The judge argued that an “investigation is ongoing” and that the case is “complex”. The defense appealed.
One year interim
Accused of leading a “coup” in November 2019 against left-wing ex-president Evo Morales, Ms. Añez, 54, calls herself a “political prisoner”. She went on a hunger strike the day before her trial.
On November 12, 2019, the conservative senator proclaimed herself interim president of Bolivia in favor of a power vacuum caused by the cascading resignations of Mr. Morales and his constitutional successors: the vice-president, the president of the Senate and the President of the Chamber of Deputies.
A month earlier, Evo Morales had faced a wave of protests following his contested re-election for a fourth term. Released by the army and police, he eventually resigned and went into exile.
After a year of acting, Ms. Añez recognized the victory of Luis Arce, MAS candidate and runner-up to Evo Morales, in the October 2020 presidential election and handed him power.