Ecuador judge orders 30 to trial in corruption case

8/10/2024 12:31

        A judge in Ecuador on Monday ordered 30 people to stand trial in a wide-ranging organized crime and drug trafficking case involving the Andean country's judicial system.
        
        Defendants called to trial include the former president of the judicial system's regulator, provincial officials, judges and prosecutors, as well as a former police general and staff from the SNAI prison agency, among others.
        
        Initially, 52 people were charged in the case, but a dozen of them received benefits for collaborating with investigators and received speedy trials and reduced sentences.
        
        While the prosecution sought to bring 37 defendants who have not yet been tried in the case to trial, Judge Manuel Cabrera ruled on Monday that seven should be cleared on a lack of evidence.
        
        President Daniel Noboa, a young business heir who is seeking re-election in 2025, has complained about judges and prosecutors being too lenient on members of criminal gangs, who Noboa says are at war with Ecuador.