A Minister on the Edge | Ministro en la cuerda floja

By Erbol:

MADE HIS CASE PUBLIC

Government confirms that Vidovic has an enforceable sentence and ‘will not be able to hold public office’

The Minister of Justice and Transparency, Freddy Vidovic, has an enforceable three-year sentence for the crimes of aiding evasion, active bribery, and others, meaning that “he will not be able to hold public office,” stated the Minister of Government, Marco Antonio Oviedo.

The sentence was issued on May 30, 2015 by Román Cordero, First Judge of Preliminary Criminal Investigation of the Departmental Court of Justice of La Paz, through which the request for an abbreviated procedure for Vidovic was granted, he explained.

The head of Justice would have voluntarily renounced the restricted appeal, which makes the sentence “fully enforceable,” Oviedo emphasized. The report on the case will be brought to the attention of President Rodrigo Paz, he announced.

“When someone has an enforceable sentence, their civil rights are curtailed and, therefore, Mr. (Freddy Vidovic) cannot elect or be elected, everything that implies the deprivation of civil rights,” he stated.

Press reports from ten years ago indicate that Vidovic submitted to an abbreviated trial and received the three-year sentence, taking advantage of judicial pardon, for being linked to the scheme that allegedly covered up the escape of Peruvian Martín Belaunde Lossio.

The case was an international scandal because the businessman was wanted in his country for corruption, but in Bolivia he had escaped from house arrest, although he was later recaptured in Beni.

Through a statement, Vidovic asserted that in 2015 his law firm was hired for the defense of the Peruvian citizen, who was an asylum applicant. However, he reported that, as an attorney, together with his colleague Jorge Valda, they were assaulted, tortured, and deprived of liberty, simply for fulfilling their professional duty.

Oviedo insisted that when a person has an enforceable sentence, their civil rights are affected and “will not be able to exercise public office,” which would put at risk his permanence as head of the Ministry of Justice.

After his appointment was questioned, Vice President Edmand Lara came out in his defense, ensuring that he is the right person for the position and to lead the reform of the Justice system. He was his lawyer when he had problems with the Police. ///agc

By El Dia:

Court documents from 2015 confirm that Vidovic accepted a plea bargain for his involvement in the Belaunde Lossio case, a situation that now calls into question his eligibility to hold public office.

The sentence against Vidovic is for crimes related to tax evasion and corruption.

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