Bolivian court orders pre-trial detention of officials involved in tragedy that killed 7 students

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – On Thursday, March 4th, a judge ordered the pre-trial detention of 7 university officials for the death of a group of students who plunged nearly 17 meters after the collapse of a railing at a Bolivian university last Tuesday.

The court’s pre-trial detention decision applies to defendants identified as Pablo A.C.P., Wilson Q.CH., Vladimir P.A., Rosa M.M.G., Fanny MV.C., Nayeli V.CH.T. and Juan C.Y.C.L., all officials of the Public University of El Alto (UPEA), according to a Prosecutor’s Office press release.

The ruling also mentions that the accused must be held “for 4 months” in La Paz prisons while the investigations are completed.

During the hearing, which was held at around 2 PM local time and took over eight hours, it was established that the defendants “are the likely perpetrators of the crime of manslaughter and negligent injury” of the 11 students who fell from the fourth floor of a hall of the university’s Faculty of Economics, Finance and Administrative Sciences.

“The probable responsibility of the accused is based on the call by the leaders of the Student Center of the different careers in the Area of Economics, Finance to an extraordinary in-person student Assembly,” says the Prosecutor’s Office about the tragic incident that left 6 students dead.

In addition, during the hearing, risks such as “danger of flight and obstruction” by the defendants were identified, according to the Prosecutor’s Office.

The investigation points out that the student leaders failed to respect the rules banning crowds due to the Covid-19 pandemic and that they were aware of “conflicts” between two groups and that they nevertheless called the meeting in which “they endangered the lives of the university students.”

The court’s assessment was based on witness testimony, forensic and police records, in addition to the report made by the university, said the prosecutors quoted in the statement.

The 7 students’ cause of death was the result of “multiple trauma” in different parts of the body given the height of the fall, according to the forensic report when the bodies were removed from the scene.

Last Tuesday, March 2nd, the incident shocked the nation because of the harsh footage of the railing collapsing and students plunging to their death.

The tragedy prompted two statements of solidarity from educational institutions and national officials, along with calls for justice and the intervention of the student center and the Local University Federation (FUL), considering that threats were employed to call over 500 university students to the meeting last Tuesday.

Source: Infobae

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