Bolivia top court orders release of former interim President Jeanine Anez

Former interim president Jeanine Anez was sentenced to 10 years in prison in Bolivia after her conviction for an alleged plot to overthrow her left-wing predecessor, Evo Morales.

On the ground that Anez, who has been imprisoned for more than four years, has been sentenced, according to Supreme Court Justice Romer Saucedo, who stated to reporters on Wednesday that there have been “violations” of due process violations during her trial.

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She received a 10-year prison sentence, and her release is now in order, according to Saucedo.

After Morales fled the country in the wake of widespread demonstrations over alleged election fraud during his contentious bid for a fourth term, Anez, a former conservative senator, became Bolivia’s interim leader in 2019.

After weeks of unrest, Morales, the country’s first indigenous president, claimed he was the victim of a coup.

According to the rights organization Amnesty International, Anez’s administration oversaw the protests, which resulted in the deaths of at least 35 people and the injuries of 833 others.

Anez was detained in 2021 after Morales’ left-wing Movement for Socialism (MAS) party resurrected, and he was found guilty in 2022 of having a political party hehad used against him.

The Supreme Court justice, Saucedo, claimed on Wednesday that lawmakers who were in charge of prosecuting crimes by special court should have tried Anez rather than the criminal justice system.

Anez did not respond to the court’s decision right away.

She defended her record in a social media post on Tuesday, saying she would never “regret having served my country when it was in need.”

She wrote, “I made it with a clear conscience and a steadfast heart, knowing that challenging choices come with costs.”