The Ecuadorian prosecutor's office has requested pre-trial detention against former president Rafael Correa

The Office of the Prosecutor of Ecuador on Tuesday requested that pre-trial detention be issued against the former head of state Rafael Correa related in a case of Investigation into the attempted kidnapping in Colombia of an Ecuadorian Exlegislator in 2012.

The request was made by Paúl Pérez, Attorney General in charge, at a hearing in review on the provisional measures applied to Correa in the case of Fernando Balda and which takes place at the National Court of Justice (CNJ), in Quito

The defense of Fernando Balda, present in the square, supported the request of the prosecutor and Judge Daniela Camacho will decide whether or not to accept the prosecutor's request.

Correa, who resided in Belgium for a year, he had to go to the NYC in Quito on Monday, but he appeared at the Ecuadorian consulate in Belgium, of his own free will, as having respected the of precaution that had been imposed after his criminal connection with the case. l on June 18th.

According to the judicial disposition that day, the exmandatario was to report to the CNJ every fortnight from July 2, a precautionary measure which, in the opinion of the Public Prosecutor's Office, was ignored and therefore corresponds

For his part, Correa's lawyer, Caupolicán Ochoa, today asked the judge to reject the arrest request and accept the replacement of the precautionary measures so that Correa can appear before the consulate in Spain. Belgium

Ochoa also argued that it was also the initial position of the Office of the Prosecutor, and that it was the judge who had decided to request his appearance in Quito

The former president, who ruled Ecuador between 2007 and 2017, had previously appeared through the Consulate in Belgium via videoconference in a voluntary hearing in the investigation phase of the case .

Correa rejects any participation, assures that there is no evidence of his alleged personal involvement in the facts, and the complaint that he is the subject of political and media persecution.

The hearing was briefly suspended and must be reinstated this afternoon.

EFE