Lasso pleads not guilty before a political trial that “smells very bad” in Ecuador

The president of Ecuador, William Lassopleaded not guilty this Thursday and rejected the political trial of censorship raised by the opposition, which is accusing him of an alleged crime of embezzlement (embezzlement of public funds).

In a message to the nation where he appeared with his wife, Maria de Lourdes Alcivarand in front of a large group of citizens with the flag of Ecuador In the background, Lasso accused the opposition, led by Correísmo, of inventing evidence against him to “storm power and weaken and destroy democracy”.

LOOK HERE: Impeachment of the President of Ecuador: Are there the votes to remove Guillermo Lasso and what is he accused of?

Lasso’s pronouncement comes one day after the Constitutional court gave the green light to carry out the political trial for embezzlement, but did not accept the accusation that the opposition also made by accusation.

The Ecuadorian president argued that the Constitutional Court left out of the accusation the alleged crime of concussion for lack of evidence and that the charges for alleged embezzlement correspond to contracts signed in 2018 and renewed in 2020, before he became President in May 2021.

“They allegedly accuse me of abusing public funds for my own benefit when I was not yet President of the Republic. What do I have to do with a 2018 contract? There is not even an investigation by the Prosecutor’s Office on this subject”, argued the president.

“I have not committed any crime, much less years before taking office (as president), and since there are no grounds for a criminal trial, they invent this political trial”, he added.

Charge Against Opposition

The head of state pointed out to the drug trafficking mafias, the insurance of public companies, illegal mining and illegal oil businesses for having joined politics and being behind this political trial “to recover the illegal prebends that we took from them”.

MORE INFORMATION: Constitutional Court of Ecuador gives the green light for political trial against President Guillermo Lasso

He also recalled that he was democratically elected for four years and that “cycles in democracy must be fulfilled”.

In this sense, he considered it critical that, for this impeachment, “fraudulently obtained evidence, violations of due process, use of the wrong items and obtaining illegal evidence”.

For Lasso this is “a trial created with false ‘memes’“, that “It has neither head nor tail, because the invented lies cannot be sustained”, and what results “a desperate, timeless and violent attempt to steal” the stability of the country.

“It annoys me, it offends me, it outrages me that they are trying to assassinate my reputation and that of my home”, added the ruler before reiterating that it is “innocent of those hoaxes” that they have “made up”.

Assassination of your reputation

The president affirmed that he is living “a systematic and mafia attack” for “murder” his reputation, but culminated: “This is a fight that we are going to win because the truth always wins”.

ALSO SEE: Ecuadorian opposition opens impeachment process against President Lasso

The impeachment process against Lasso was activated by the opposition at the most difficult moment for the president, after the serious setback received in the electoral appointment of February 5, where he lost the referendum called to reform the Constitution and, at the same time, Correísmo was the big winner in the local elections.

Now the Assembly, with an opposition majority, will refer to the Control Commission the preparation of a report with the elements presented by the prosecution and the allegations of the defense. The document will be raised to the plenary session, where 92 votes are needed to censure the head of state, equivalent to two thirds of the Chamber.

In June 2022, Lasso already saved a similar situation by a few votes, when in the midst of the protests led by the indigenous movement against the economic policy of his Government and the high cost of living, the opposition raised a motion for presidential impeachment that did not reached those 92 votes.

Source: Elcomercio

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I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.