Former Ecuadorian presidential secretary found dead in prison

This Sunday May 23 José Agusto Briones, former secretary of the presidency of Ecuador under the government of Lenín Moreno, was found dead in a bathroom in Quito Prison 4. Investigations indicate a possible suicide, as reported by the Minister of the Government, Gabriel Martínez. The theory that Briones committed suicide has also been reported by SNAI, the institution responsible for prisons in Ecuador.

Briones was one of fourteen linked to the affair “Towers”, where the alleged crime of organized delinquency and that involves the current Controller of Ecuador, Pablo Celi.

Since April 13 and after a raid on his house, Briones had been in prison. The former official was in compliance with the preventive detention provided for in the investigation. The Attorney General of Ecuador linked Briones to the corrupt structure that handled bribes from state-owned oil company PetroEcuador and that he interfered in the Office of the Comptroller and in the General Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic, to eliminate glosses for about 13 million US dollars and to release the payment of the wage bill owed by Petroecuador to the service provider tankers Nolimit CA

On behalf of the former secretary, he appeared in the transcribed texts of expert conversations between the shareholder of the company Nolimit, José Luis De la Paz, and Raúl De la Torre, a former adviser to Petroecuador convicted in the United States for acts of corruption and a relative of Pablo Celi, Controller of Ecuador.

In these conversations, Briones is said to have insisted that Raúl de la Torre remain at his post in Petroecuador and therefore manage bribes from suppliers. In another of the appeals, De La Torre tells De la Paz Román that Briones allegedly requested a deposit of $ 500,000. The shareholder of Nolimit replies that he is on his way to the bank “to make this comeback”.

On May 13, Briones released a public statement. In this, he indicated that he had been unfairly deprived of his liberty, as there was only the accusation of Raúl De la Torre against him. Briones said he did not know Nolimit shareholder José Luis De la Paz and denied pressing for De la Torre to remain in power.

Regarding the death of the former secretary, the attorney general’s office reported that forensic scientists carried out the removal of Briones’ body. He also indicated that there were two prosecutors on the spot, in charge of the investigations.

The reactions

Lenín Moreno, outgoing president of Ecuador, said on his Twitter account that he will always be remembered José Agusto Briones for his kind and caring attitude. Also, he said he considered him a friend.

Briones’ death sparked several criticisms from the Ecuadorian justice system. One of The questions relate to the abuse of preventive detention as a precautionary measure for those under investigation.

Mateo Carrera, Briones’ defense assistant in the “Las Torres” case, reacted on Twitter and called the pre-trial detention “excessive”. Further, he indicated that the attorney general’s office said his client would be safe in prison 4 “Oh surprise, he looks dead today,” he wrote and said “a prisoner is still under the responsibility of the State “.

Lawyer Paúl Ocaña wrote on his Twitter account that “the abuse of PP (preventive detention) in Ecuador is latent day by day” and that it does not comply with “normative and conventional requirements”, which are indicated by the Ecuadorian Comprehensive Penal Code and the IACHR.

Other Ecuadorian lawyers, like Lorena Grillo, questioned the media’s judgments. “The abuse of pre-trial detention and media trials of which you know (who is) guilty or innocent, you are unlikely to get justice … Not everyone can handle this pressure …”, wrote the lawyer.

José Agusto Briones has held various public functions. He was advisor to the then Minister of Hydrocarbons, Carlos Pérez García, in 2017. In May 2018, he was appointed National Secretary of Planning and Development (Senplades). He was Secretary of the Presidency of Lenín Moreno, between November 2018 and November 2019. Then he was Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, until March 2020, when he resigned.

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