(CNN Spanish) — The president of the National Court of Justice of Ecuador, Iván Saquicela, announced this Friday that he signed an order to start the extradition process from Belgium of former president Rafael Correa. Correa was sentenced in 2020 to eight years in prison for the crime of aggravated bribery in the “bribery 2012-2016” case, within the Odebrecht plot.
“I have already signed the order, initiating the extradition process as corresponds by law of the former president of the Republic of Ecuador, Rafael Vicente Correa Delgado,” he said in an interview with the local media Teleamazonas.
According to Saquicela, the request will be sent to the Foreign Ministry so that the necessary diplomatic steps can be taken to finalize Correa’s extradition.
He added that Ecuador has an extradition agreement with Belgium that supports the extradition request, and that political criteria do not intervene in this request.
“We have waited for some aspects, such as the fact that the different decisions adopted by the court in the ‘bribery’ case will be carried out. We have carried out the necessary analysis and steps regarding extradition,” Saquicela added.
For his part, former President Rafael Correa told CNN that this request for extradition from the Ecuadorian justice responds to a statement that his lawyers issued this Friday, in which they indicate that Belgium granted him political asylum.
According to the statement, Christophe Marchand, the coordinating lawyer for Correa’s international defense, pointed out that this notification of the status conferred is “an acknowledgment of the former president’s condition of political persecution.”
Correa’s representatives sent CNN a document from the General Commissioner for Refugees and Stateless Persons of Belgium (CGRA) that proves his refugee status. CNN contacted the Belgian Foreign Ministry and received no response. Also with the CGRA who declined to comment on a particular case.
The Foreign Ministry of Ecuador reported that so far it has not received any requirement from the National Court of Justice regarding the order to initiate the extradition of Rafael Correa through diplomatic channels and that as soon as it is received, it will be sent to Belgium.
The statement adds that the Foreign Ministry has not heard from an official source regarding the political asylum that Correa says Belgium has granted him.
Later, the president of the National Court of Justice, Iván Saquicela, in a press conference, said that he is unaware of the granting of political asylum to Rafael Correa and that regardless of whether this has happened, he will maintain his extradition request:
“I have no formal knowledge that Rafael Correa would have been granted political asylum. That area does not correspond to us, but to diplomacy. I am the first to be missed,” Saquicela told the media.
In addition, he added that the Foreign Ministry is the one who must inform the country regarding whether Correa has asylum. He indicated that despite the criticism once morest him he “has complied with the country.”
“I still don’t know regarding a possible political asylum (for Rafael Correa). I am the first missed, the first surprised. I find out as a surprise that a political asylum has apparently been granted, ”he insisted.
Saquicela said that despite the fact that the sentence once morest Rafael Correa to 8 years in prison for the crime of bribery was ratified in July 2020, it was necessary to have legal resources to support an extradition request that is complex. Legal resources that, according to Saquicela, only in this 2022 might be specified.
Luis Yepes contributed to this report.
