Ecuador: People Involved in Coup Attempt Still Unpunished

Ecuador: People Involved in Coup Attempt Still Unpunished Quito, Jun 28. -None of the 1,199 policemen and soldiers involved in the coup and assassination attempt of September 30 has been sanctioned by the Ecuadorian courts, a journalistic investigation revealed.

A court ruled in only two of five trials initiated by the prosecution on these facts, when eight people were killed and 270 were wounded, acquitting all the accused, public agency Andes posted.

The other three proceedings are at different levels of adjudication, but so far judges have not sentenced anyone responsible, although the government insists on the seriousness of what happened.

According to official data, 1,199 policemen and soldiers participated in the revolt, but only five were found not guilty despite maintaining President Rafael Correa kidnapped for 10 hours, surrounded by about 800 armed rebels.

The first trial against the leader of the opposition party Patriotic Society, Col. Fidel Araujo (r), accused of allegedly inciting rebellion in Quito Regiment, was in the IV Court of Criminal Guarantees, where he was found not guilty on April 3, 2011.

On May 13, Colonel Cesar Carrion, former director of the Police Hospital, and policemen Luis Martinez and Luis Jaime Bahamonde Paucar, accused of attempted assassination, were also absolved. (Prensa Latina)