Bolivia, arrest warrant against former president Evo Morales

(ANSA) – LA PAZ, OCTOBER 10 – The prosecutor of the Bolivian department of Tarija, Sandra Gutiérrez, has confirmed the issuance of an arrest warrant against Evo Morales, after the former president did not show up to testify about this afternoon in a rape and trafficking trial in which he is involved. Morales is accused of the alleged crime of human trafficking and smuggling involving a girl with whom he had a daughter born when she was 15 years old. According to Gutiérrez, the briefs presented by the defense of the former Bolivian president did not prevent him from appearing today as a witness. “We are working on what the law requires, which is to obtain the arrest warrant for those who have been duly notified without any violation of their rights. The arrest warrant will simply be issued for them to appear to submit their information statement,” he said the prosecutor leaving the police station in the Lourdes district, in the city of Tarija, capital of the department of the same name which is in charge of the case. A few hours earlier, Jorge Pérez, Evo Morales’ lawyer, had presented two briefs to justify the former president’s failure to appear, adding that another arrest warrant would be illegal, considering that through a legal appeal the case should be transferred to the judicial district of Cochabamba, where Morales resides. (HANDLE).