President of Ecuador Guillermo Lasso. Author: taken from internet

Ecuador’s Constitutional Court (CC) recognized this Wednesday a political trial against President Guillermo Lasso linked to the alleged crime of embezzlement, Telesur reports.

A statement from the South American country’s highest constitutional body explained that the plenary decided “to deny the admission of two charges related to the alleged crime of extortion and to admit the charge of impeachment related to the alleged crime of embezzlement.”

The CC mentioned that this decision was made by a supermajority of six votes in favor and three saved votes (cast individually by Judges Teresa Nuquez Martinez and Carmen Corral Ponce and Judge Enrique Herreria Bonnet).

He added that in the analysis of the request submitted by the National Assembly (Parliament), it was found that the first two charges formulated in relation to the crime of concussion did not meet the requirements of article 148, paragraph 2, of the Organic Jurisdiction Law. Constitutional Guarantees and Control (LOGJCC).

“With regard to the crime of embezzlement, on the contrary, it has been established that its wording falls under the assumptions of admissibility established in the said article of the ZPKSK,” the UK clarified.

With this admissibility ruling, for the first time in Ecuador’s democratic history, since the entry into force of the 2008 Constitution, the President of the Republic will be asked to impeach in the National Assembly, teleSUR correspondent in Quito, Orlando Pérez, stressed.

Parliament now has up to 30 days to process all constitutional mechanisms (protection, dismissal, etc.).

Once the parliamentary audit committee has prepared a report detailing the allegation, it will be submitted to the legislature as a whole for discussion.

In order for the President of the Republic to be removed from office, 92 votes from the 137 members of the Assembly of Ecuador are needed.

In a statement released Wednesday evening, President Lasso’s government said it respects the decision of the Constitutional Court but rejects the political process and upholds the head of state’s innocence.

Source: Juventud Rebelde