Lawyers are concerned about the health of former Vice President Jorge Glas, who is in prison for corruption in Ecuador

The lawyers and a doctor of the defense of former Ecuadorian vice president Jorge Glas, in prison for corruptionsaid Tuesday that he suffers from health problems and mental instability and is not allowed to receive visitors.

Lawyer Sonia Vera said in a press conference from Belgium that “we are very concerned because they are giving him a long list of medications” in the penitentiary, “which has alarmed us greatly.”

“There has been no response to the urgent, immediate request for Jorge (Glas) to be treated by his internist,” he added.

The Associated Press reached out to prison officials for comment but did not receive a response.

Glas, vice president of Ecuador between 2013 and 2018 —during the governments of Rafael Correa and Lenín Moreno— is serving two sentences for corruption in a maximum security prison in the city of Guayaquil. He also faces an additional trial for alleged misappropriation of public funds that were intended for the reconstruction of two provinces affected by a powerful earthquake in 2016.

To avoid legal action, Glas, 54, entered the Mexican embassy in Quito at the end of 2023, but at the beginning of April the police broke into that diplomatic headquarters and captured him, an action considered a serious violation of Mexican sovereignty and which led to the breaking off of diplomatic relations and mutual claims before the International Court of Justice.

Doctor Alejandro Barreto, who has visited Glas in prison, expressed his concern at the same press conference about his medical, mental and nutritional situation and said that there has been a “worsening of his clinical condition.”

Prison authorities have confirmed that the former official has been treated by psychologists, cardiologists, pulmonologists and general practitioners since April.

Glas has requested several writs of habeas corpus seeking to be sent to Mexico or serve the sentence at home, but his requests have been rejected by the courts, which have deemed them inadmissible.

Four months ago, he was treated in a hospital in Guayaquil for a breakdown, but was discharged two days later after medical evaluations determined that his health parameters were “acceptable and within the normal range.”

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