Bolivia says IACHR will not request Áñez’s release from prison

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Bolivia’s Minister of Justice Iván Lima on Sunday said that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) will not demand the release of ex-president Jeanine Áñez, imprisoned since March, in reaction to the injunction filed to review her situation.

“In the worst case scenario, the IACHR would ask the Judiciary to review the situation of Mrs. Áñez, not order her release from jail to go home,” Minister of Justice Iván Lima said in an interview for state-owned Bolivia TV.

Lima explained that the IACHR files injunctions in a number of other cases and not on due process or issues related to a person’s health, after Áñez’s physical condition worsened in recent weeks, as reported by her defense counsel.

“The injunction is an extreme emergency measure that is applied in death penalty cases,” or “when a country is about to expel a citizen,” Lima said, who stressed that Bolivia would send the IACHR all information on Áñez’s condition within the set deadlines.

“The commission has given us deadlines, we are working on it, we will reply within the deadlines, the process may be extended, there may be additional information, the debate will take a few months,” he said.

Lima again argued for the independence of the Judiciary and pointed out that nothing in Áñez’s case is related to the government, as “it was the judges who determined this situation” on up to two occasions.

“Her bags were packed, she did not want to face justice, and when these risks exist, there is preventive detention,” recalled the Minister of Justice.

The IACHR a few days ago requested information about Áñez from the Bolivian government after she sought an injunction seeking “protection.” Her defense turned to the international organization after having exhausted Bolivian judicial instances to “restore” her rights and due to the “lack of access to adequate medical care.”

Áñez, in preventive detention since March – accused of sedition, terrorism, conspiracy and genocide, among other crimes, for her involvement in the 2019 post-electoral crisis – attempted suicide in mid-August, when her health was deteriorating, according to sources close to her.