Judge in Ecuador libel case flees country →
Since I recently wrote about Ecuador’s courts upholding the libel verdict against El Universo newspaper I was interested to see this detailed article by Jim Wyss of McClatchy Newspapers.
Since last writing about this, journalist Emilio Palacio has sought political asylum in South Florida, the director of the paper has been granted asylum in Panama, and Monica Encalada, an Ecuadoran judge who reviewed the case, is seeking the protection of the Inter-American Human Rights Commission and will probably seek political asylum in Colombia.
President Correa is to make a public statement, and the above-linked article says that he was prepared to offer pardons, but this really doesn’t make the President look much better. To preside over a vendetta against the press, eventually triumph, and then offer to pardon those convicted, is a frightening exercise in executive power, especially if the charges of corruption are true (i.e., if Correa’s lawyers wrote the judgment and made offers for judges to pass these off as their own).
A comment on the above-linked story asks, “Where’s the outrage from the OAS over this?” This is a pertinent question.
