UN visits Jeanine Áñez in prison and recommends strategies to prevent further self-harm

The United Nations (UN) in Bolivia visited former President Jeanine Áñez this Sunday in a prison in La Paz and recommended that strategies be implemented to prevent self-harm or suicide, also applying a gender perspective.

A UN commission visited the ex-president who is serving her pre-trial detention in a prison in the Miraflores district of La Paz after learning that Áñez had “harmed himself” in his arms on Saturday.

UN Bolivia said in a statement that she had “immediate and unrestricted” access to the prison and interviewed ñez in confidence.

This body found that Añez presents “Self-inflicted physical injury” and that she reports feeling “physically weakened and deeply affected emotionally”.

UN officials confirmed that they implement some responses to this fact, such as letting Áñez’s parent sleep with her, but according to “international standards”, other “self-harm and suicide prevention and care” strategies need to be implemented.

“International standards emphasize that the mental health of persons deprived of their liberty must be addressed in a specific manner and applying a gender perspective”, read part of the statement.

They also stress that the psychiatric examination carried out on Áñez is a “good step” “when it is carried out with the prior consent and by independent professionals recognized by the parties”.

Áñez has been in pre-trial detention for five months in a La Paz prison for the so-called “coup” in which she is accused of sedition and alleged conspiracy.

The ex-interim president was released this week to undergo medical tests in various hospitals for high blood pressure and the anxiety-depressive syndrome from which she suffers.

Government Minister Eduardo del Castillo said on Saturday that Áñez has tried to “self-harm” and she has scratches on her arms, but is stable.

Politicians, former presidents and even his defense have demanded that in this situation they let Áñez freely defend himself to preserve his life and health.

This Sunday, the prison regime reiterated that Áñez is being treated in the prison, that she is stable and that her rights are not violated.

The European Union and the US Embassy have expressed “concern” for the health of the former president, as well as members of the Bolivian opposition and former presidents of the country.

The prosecutor’s office on Friday filed an accusatory motion against ñez to initiate a liability lawsuit for the deaths in two regions during the 2019 crisis, after the failed elections that year.

These elections were canceled amid complaints of electoral fraud in favor of the then president, Evo Morales, who for his part claims to have been the victim of a “coup”.

(with information from the EFE)

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