Diana Salazar released a video that came to her via WhatsApp, in which it was indicated that her life and that of her daughter were at risk. The situation occurs at a time of deep confrontation between the organs of the Ecuadorian judiciary, and of attacks for which the official has blamed former President Rafael Correa and several members of his government.
First modification:
The threats were issued from a number that has a photo of the prosecutor as a user image, with a number with a Ukraine code, and are added to what Salazar has denounced as “intimidation attempts”, allegedly also directed towards his family.
The Prosecutor’s Office issued a statement in which it invites citizens to stay “vigilant before any attempt to take over this institution by any means and cost”, alluding to the questions of the Council for Citizen Participation and Social Control (CPCCS) and the Council of the Judiciary against the authority of Salazar at the head of the Public Ministry .
#RELEASE | #FiscalíaEc condemns all kinds of intimidation, calls on public opinion and international organizations to be vigilant, and reaffirms its commitment to citizens to continue doing their job, based on the Law. ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/bg9cRVgPyt
– Ecuador Prosecutor (@FiscaliaEcuador) June 1, 2023
The Council of the Judiciary opened a disciplinary procedure against Salazar, who has been in office since 2019, who is accused of having plagiarized her thesis, and the CPCCS summoned her for a public hearing on Friday in relation to this complaint. The prosecutor has already announced that she will not attend to the summons and will record her responses in writing.
Neither persecution nor imposition
The Council of the Judiciary published a statement on Tuesday in which it denies that it intends to sanction or dismiss Salazar, and ensures that it carries out “a normal procedure”, with “respect for the powers of each State body”, to try to support the accusations against Salazar of having obtained her degree fraudulently, which would disqualify her from the position she holds.
The prosecutor has ensured that this instance does not have the power to revoke her election or suspend her from office, a competence that, she maintains, falls to the National Assembly, which has been laid off after the “cross death” decreed by President Guillermo Lasso.
The Ecuadorian president expressed his solidarity with Salazar after the death threats were reported, and promised that he would provide her with all the necessary protection to keep her safe.
Ecuadorians cannot tolerate that criminal groups and their terrorist acts threaten the life of a State authority and seek control of justice institutions. The State has to align itself in the democratic defense of the institutions.
My support and… https://t.co/wNOuhcW69P
— Guillermo Lasso (@LassoGuillermo) June 1, 2023
The prosecutor of the Bribery case
Upon her arrival at the Attorney General’s Office in 2019, Diana Salazar was the most visible face of the Bribery case, for which former President Correa was sentenced to eight years in prison in 2020, in addition to being disqualified from running for elected office.
Correa is residing in Belgium with refugee status, and has declared himself to be politically persecuted. From that country, he downplayed Salazar’s complaints and assured that the prosecutor is “willing to do anything so that the plagiarism of his thesis is not investigated.”
More recently, Salazar has substantiated a file in which the accusation for embezzlement of former Vice President Jorge Glas and other officials of the Correa government is pursued, for irregularities in the execution of resources for the construction of a highway between Manta and Colisa, on the coast. center of Ecuador.
with EFE
