"Correa's process is full of irregularities": Merchant

The lawyer Christophe Marchand, defender in Belgium of the former president of L & # 39; Ecuador Rafael Correa, badured that the process of "Balda affair" that he faces in his country and for which his preventive imprisonment was requested is "full of irregularities" offers no guarantee

. Correa) tells me "I want to go to Ecuador", I say "you do not have to go there because there is a very strong risk that it or imprisoned for many years to eliminate it from politics, "said Marchand, who appreciates" a systematization of criminal actions against former defendants "in" many countries "in America. Latin

The case

Correa faces a request for preventive detention in his country ordered by Judge Daniella Camacho, besides a request to Interpol must be found and extradited

On June 18, Camacho orders Correa's appearance every two weeks before the Secretariat of the National Court of Justice as a precaution after being linked to the case of attempted kidnapping of the ex – legislator Fernando Balda

However, Correa chose to appear before the Ecuadorian consulate in Brussels, pro according to his lawyers, by diplomatic regulations.

"Right now, in my opinion, nothing is in force in Belgium for," said Marchand, adding that the arrest warrant could "be pending," though "some appeals may be deposited in Ecuador and that this may stop the demand a little. "

Irregularities

According to Marchand's opinion, the order of Judge Correa to appear before the court every two weeks while she resides "at thousands of kilometers" is "a condition"

"This means that, ultimately, he did not want me to comply," said l & # 39; lawyer.

He added that Correa, who has been living in Belgium for a year, for family reasons, he did not respect this order because "it seems to me, when I see it all the way up to the end of my life. now that it is a road full of illegalities, that the first idea was that it did not conform to it in. ur that he can take this measure of detention "

who badured that his client" has a lot of courage to fight, "explained that they have compiled information about the situation in the country and that his conclusion is that there "are problems."

"In Ecuador and all over Latin America" ​​There are reports of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on structural problems . "

He referred to the "problem of the immunity of a head of state".

And detailed that the Ecuadorian State must send to Interpol a "red alert" for the arrest of Correa which must be examined to check "if there are no problems of type of political persecution "in the beginning

If the institution reaches the conclusion that it exists, the process can be" stopped abruptly ", it affects, while in case the petition continues, he will enter the system Interpol and will cause a warrant of arrest in all the countries of the world

Measures conservatoires

In the case of Belgium, the parquet floor will have to stop it or impose "precautionary measures, such as the prohibition to leave the country, the judge makes a decision on the request for delivery," explained the lawyer.

From this moment, there will be a hearing in the Council Chamber with the possibility of appealing and reaching the Supreme Court of Belgium.

"We are not in the Euroorder system (European arrest warrant), it is an old system, a nineteenth century extradition convention between Ecuador and Belgium "said Marchand, who acknowledged that the process" can take a long time "and involves sending documents with official translations.

He added that it is a "mixed system" that goes through the judges, although "it is ultimately the Belgian government that decides".

And, he said, the decisions of the Belgian cabinet "may also be appealed to the State Council, before the European Court of Human Rights" There are many resources because extradition, delivery, is the exception. "

" A state does not deliver very easily.You want guarantees And in this case we do not have the guarantees, "he concluded.