Correa's Sentence for Eight Years of Jail is Ratified

ECUADOR - In Brief 07 Sep 2020 by Magdalena Barreiro

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Today at 3 pm Quito's time, the Criminal Cassation Court ratified the sentence of eight years of prison for bribery for Rafael Correa, Jorge Glass (former vice-president), three former ministers including Alexis Mera (Correa's legal advisor), other memebers of the Correistas' group, and several CEOs of private firms involved in this case. This is without any doubt the most important and media-covered case in the Ecuadorian history, and the second time a president is condemned to serve jail time. The last time, former president Abdala Bucaram was also found guilty and fled the country towards Panama seeking political asylum. Therefore, Correa --albeit not in the country and thus a fugitive--cannot participate in the elections of 2021 as was his objective. At this time, the discussion is whether he has been disabled for the next eight years only or for his lifetime. During the next three days, lawyers of the accused and condemned can request further explanation from the Court's on its decision or an extension to the decision. However, this legal resource will not change the outcome and the only instance left is to go to international courts. In any event, 2021 elections will not have Rafael Correa as a candidate.In our opinion, as we had said before, his absence might not have a great impact on the probability of his party of achieving a place in the second electoral round, as Correistas have a hard vote of around 20%. However, it might make a great difference on the outcome of the second round.