The former president of Bolivia, Evo Morales, has claimed this Monday an "impartial" and "legal" process after being declared in default by Bolivian Justice for not appearing before the Departmental Court of Tarija, where the case against him is being heard for an alleged crime of human trafficking linked to a relationship with a minor during his term.
"I am not seeking impunity, I only demand an impartial, legal process in accordance with the Constitution and procedural law," the former president has claimed in a message published on his social media in which he has defended that "no citizen can be legally and mediately condemned without respect for due process and the presumption of innocence."
In the same vein, Morales has insisted that "no one" be "condemned" for "political reasons" through "false accusations and fabricated with invented evidence solely with the objective of annihilating legally, morally, and physically".
"If a judge or a court allows a trial to proceed without resolving pending incidents, they run the risk that everything done may be null and void by full right, and the defense of an accused person may file constitutional actions and a criminal complaint for prevarication against the administrators of justice," the former leader noted, accompanying his publication with selected jurisprudence to support his arguments.
Morales, who remains in the coca-growing region of Chapare, in the heart of the Cochabamba Tropics, fiercely protected by his followers, has not appeared for any of the judicial summons and has accused authorities for years, including during the tenure of former President Luis Arce, of having "fabricated" the case against him.
Regarding the substance of the proceedings, the prosecution claims that in 2015 Morales had a relationship with a 16-year-old girl, with whom he allegedly had a daughter during his presidential term, which lasted from 2006 to 2019, the year in which he left the country under pressure from the opposition and parts of the Armed Forces, who refused to recognize his electoral victory.