International committee asks to extend precautionary measures for Jorge Gla

Quito. Six months after the assault on the Mexican embassy in Quito and the kidnapping of former vice president Jorge Glas, the international committee that advocates for his freedom asked – through a letter – the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to expand the precautionary measures in favor of the former president, so that the diplomatic status implied by this case is fulfilled and non-custodial actions are granted.

The background for this request is that on December 31, 2019, the IACHR granted precautionary measures to Glas due to his chronic illnesses, since urgent treatment and medical attention were necessary, in addition to the risk of death due to threats within the center. penitentiary. Since that year, the IACHR has requested constant information on the health and imprisonment situation of the former vice president.

In a press conference held yesterday virtually, Sacha Llorenti, coordinator of the International Committee for the Freedom of Jorge Glas and former permanent representative of the Plurinational State of Bolivia to the United Nations, recalled that at the request of the Ecuadorian State the visit by a delegation from the IACHR because government officials were going to be out of the country.

In addition, he clarified that precautionary measures are not binding on a visit. In that sense, he reiterated that urgent action can be taken because Glas’s life is at stake and the Ecuadorian State has no intention of implementing them.

At the same time, this Committee reiterates that Glas’s legal defense has exhausted all ordinary judicial avenues in Ecuador without obtaining justice. For Llorenti, the measures adopted by the Ecuadorian courts, clearly motivated by political interests, have qualified Glas’s kidnapping as “legal” and “legitimate.”

Llorenti mentioned that this is “a case that is similar to those of the former president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and the founder of Wikileaks, Julian Assange.”

In practice, this request attempts for the Ecuadorian State to comply with the asylum granted by the Mexican government to Glas, to grant him the safe passage granted by Switzerland and thereby improve the physical and psychological health of the former vice president.

Tamara Lajtman of the Lawfare Observatory insisted that Glas’s life is at risk because he has no night security, as there is no one in the adjacent cells. He even reported that on October 1 he was denied a visit from an internist who monitors his health.

Glas suffers from multiple chronic diseases (ankylosing spondylitis, high blood pressure, fibromyalgia and chronic gastritis), as well as serious mental disorders. A few days after his arbitrary detention, he attempted suicide and then went on a prolonged hunger strike. His health has deteriorated drastically, going from taking three medications a day in 2017 to more than forty in 2024.

Llorenti warned that, if the request by Glas’s defense does not advance, the Ecuadorian State will be sanctioned for violating international norms at the diplomatic level.