QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — The previous vice chairman of Ecuador who was detained final 12 months throughout a extremely criticized police raid on Mexico’s embassy within the South American nation was sentenced Monday to 13 years in jail.
Jorge Glas had been accused of misusing public funds supposed for the reconstruction of two provinces affected by an earthquake in 2016. The quake devastated communities and killed a whole lot of individuals.
Glas grew to become vice chairman in 2013, through the presidency of Rafael Correa, and was faraway from that place in January 2018, when he was charged in a corruption case tied to the Brazilian building firm Odebrecht.
Decide Mercedes Caicedo stated the funds for reconstruction efforts following the earthquake have been allotted to “ineffective, unusable and pointless buildings” disregarding the regulation, and above all, “with full disrespect for the victims.”
The courtroom additionally barred Glas from ever holding public workplace and fined him $28,800.
Glas is already in a maximum-security jail serving time in two different corruption circumstances. He was detained in April 2024 when police stormed Mexico’s embassy in Ecuador’s capital, Quito, hours after he had been granted asylum.
The embassy raid sparked outrage amongst world leaders, who criticized Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa.
Diplomatic premises are thought-about overseas soil and “inviolable” beneath the Vienna Conference on Consular Relations, and host nation regulation enforcement businesses aren’t allowed to enter with out the permission of the ambassador.
Ecuador’s authorities defended the arrest, arguing that Glas was a fugitive needed in corruption circumstances, not for political causes, and subsequently was not eligible for Mexico’s diplomatic safety.