The Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) of Bolivia has ordered the opening of a phase of preliminary investigation of 30 days, following the indictment filed in October by the Prosecutor’s Office against former President Evo Morales and his former vice president, Álvaro García Linera, in the so-called Terrorism Case, related to the 2009 police operation at the Hotel Las Américas in Santa Cruz, in which three people died.
"A ruling has been issued to open the preliminary stage of the investigation," judge Carlos Ortega announced at a press conference, who detailed that, within this new scenario, the Public Ministry has a 30-day period that is already "running" to conclude the proceedings and establish its position, according to what the Bolivian newspaper 'la Razón' reported.
At the same time, the magistrate pointed out that the TSJ has sent instructions to the Court of Justice of Chuquisaca so that it will carry out the notification at the real addresses of both Evo Morales and García Linera, a procedure that must be carried out within a window of between 48 and 72 hours.
The indictment that the Prosecutor’s Office recorded on October 12 is based on a complaint filed by the conservative party Alianza Libre and attributes to the investigated parties the crimes of murder, mistreatment, torture, and deprivation of liberty.
The events took place on April 16, 2009, when members of the Bolivian Police broke into the Hotel Las Américas, where they shot dead three people and arrested two others, who were linked to a supposed terrorist cell.
Morales was then on official travel in Venezuela and admitted to having given the order for the operation. García Linera was serving at that time as acting president.
The family of one of the deceased, the Irish citizen Michael Dwyer, together with the survivors, went before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (CIDH), which concluded that they were victims of violations—a decision that entails the obligation of reparation.
Morales’s Executive branch defended that it was a police intervention against terrorism. However, the case file was surrounded by questions and allegations of extortion and ended up being closed during the government of Jeanine Áñez.