Guayaquil/An Ecuadorian judge declared innocent this Wednesday 32 crew members of two vessels that were intercepted and bombed by the United States in Pacific waters. The men were being prosecuted for illicit association, after being accused of allegedly collaborating with drug trafficking.
“Once the judge reviewed the evidence presented by the Prosecutor’s Office, she determined that it had not been possible to prove that these vessels and this crew had committed any illegal act. There was no crime,” Juan Alvia, the defendants’ lawyer, told EFE.
These are eight crew members from the Conquista 2 and 24 from the María Candelaria, two of the eight fishing boats sunk by the US military, in cooperation with the Ecuadorian Government, between August 28 and September 16.
According to the United States Southern Command, the ships allegedly operated as floating stations to refuel boats transporting drugs to North America.
The sentence is of first instance, but the lawyer believes that the Public Ministry will not appeal it because “it has no evidence”
The crew members were also identified for alleged links to Los Choneros, the oldest criminal group in Ecuador, associated with the Mexican Sinaloa Cartel and one of the four Ecuadorian gangs classified as terrorists by the US Government.
However, Alvia pointed out that the Prosecutor’s Office did not show during the trial any report from the United States that referred to investigations related to drug trafficking or fuel trafficking in which his clients appeared to be involved. “These are documents that do not exist,” he said.
The sentence is of first instance, but the lawyer believes that the Public Ministry will not appeal it because “it has no evidence.”
This is the first of three trials against a total of 88 crew members of five ships bombed by the United States that reach a sentence.
They are joined by another 70 crew members from the other three sunken ships.
The second trial will be held this Thursday for 46 crew members. The third, against ten others, was to be held on October 1, but was postponed until the 20th.
Alvia hopes that the magistrates in charge of the other two processes will also confirm the innocence of the other 56 accused, based on this first sentence, since, as he said, “the facts are identical.”
They are joined by another 70 crew members from the other three sunken ships, in addition to several members of the crews of these five vessels who were detained on different days and to whom the Justice Department did not file charges as no crime was found.
The lawyer indicated that the 32 crew members, who faced the process on conditional release, will now analyze what actions to take and whether they will ask the Prosecutor’s Office to open an investigation into the destruction of their fishing vessels and the “kidnapping” that they claim to have suffered before being handed over to the Ecuadorian military.
Last Friday, Human Rights Watch asked the governments of the United States and Ecuador to reveal the legal basis for these attacks and “immediately investigate the abuses” reported by the crew members.
