The Legislative Assembly’s Joint Judiciary Commission yesterday approved three additional reports on liability proceedings for former authorities from 2007 and 2008. On the list are Leonilda Zurita, Arturo Murillo, the current Mayor of Cochabamba Manfred Reyes Villa and others.
In the first case, Reyes Villa as a former prefect, Murillo (former deputy), Zurita (former senator) and Omar Fernández are also named as former senators.
The crimes of neglect of duty, refusal to provide assistance, incitement to hatred, arson, destruction or deterioration of state property and national wealth, unconstitutional and illegal decisions, public incitement to criminal offense, attack on the safety of transport, abuse of influence and embezzlement become them.
Although the commission failed to further specify the facts it investigated, prosecutors said in 2007 that politicians and others were charged by prosecutors in the “Black January” case when conflicts in Cochabamba resulted in the deaths of three people and the prefecture’s burning.
In the second report, the former minister Alicia Muñoz, the former mayor of Oruro Luis Aguilar and the former government councilor Walter Villaroel are accused of breaches of duty due to events at the Huanuni mine in 2007.
In the third document, the offenses are unconstitutional and illegal decisions, breaches of duty, manslaughter, serious and minor injuries. The trial is against the former president of Chuquisaca Nicanor Cortez.
Movement towards Socialism (MAS) Senator Patricia Arce indicated that these reports would be sent to the plenary session of the Legislative Assembly. There the assessment of the responsibilities against the ex-authorities is approved or rejected.
The Commission last week cleared three detention cases from 2003 and 2004 out of 21 pending cases.
Reyes Villa accepts the start of the process
The Mayor of Cochabamba, Manfred Reyes Villa, announced that he would call on international observers to continue the process for the January 2007 events.
“I agree to an investigation into what happened when the prefecture was burned down and Cristian Urresti died. Instead of hurting Manfred, do him a favor, ”he said.
