Latest news with #CorteSuprema
The Standard
15-07-2025
- The Standard
A Nazi document trove raises questions for Argentina
A man holds Nazi-related material after crates containing them were discovered again in the Justice Palace in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in this handout picture released on May 11, 2025. Corte Suprema de Justicia de la Republica Argentina/Handout via REUTERS
Al Arabiya
01-07-2025
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
Costa Rica's Top Court Seeks to Strip President Chaves' Immunity Over Corruption Case
Costa Rica's Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the country's legislature to strip President Rodrigo Chaves of his legal immunity so he can stand trial on corruption charges. Chaves, accused of awarding lucrative consulting contracts to a close associate, has denied wrongdoing. His office did not immediately comment on the ruling, which justices decided in a 15–to–7 vote. Costa Rica's top court has never before accepted a request to revoke a president's immunity. The case now goes to Congress, which is dominated by opposition lawmakers and has the final say. Prosecutors accuse Chaves of abusing his authority in diverting part of a $32,000 contract financed by a multilateral bank – the Central American Bank for Economic Integration – to his adviser and campaign strategist, Federico Choreco Cruz. On Tuesday, the top court also asked Chaves' minister of culture and former chief of staff, Jorge Rodríguez, to stand trial in the same case. The case first emerged in 2023 when local media released leaked audio recordings that purported to show Chaves discussing Cruz's involvement in the contracts. Chaves and his allies have other cases pending against them. Costa Rica's attorney general's office filed a separate indictment last week accusing the president of illicitly financing the 2022 election campaign that brought him to power. Chaves also denies those charges.
Associated Press
01-07-2025
- Politics
- Associated Press
Costa Rica's top court seeks to strip President Chaves' immunity over corruption case
SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (AP) — Costa Rica's Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the country's legislature to strip President Rodrigo Chaves of his legal immunity so he can stand trial on corruption charges. Chaves, accused of awarding lucrative consulting contracts to a close associate, has denied wrongdoing. His office did not immediately comment on the ruling, which justices decided in a 15-to-7 vote. Costa Rica's top court has never before accepted a request to revoke a president's immunity. The case now goes to Congress, which is dominated by opposition lawmakers and has the final say. Prosecutors accuse Chaves of abusing his authority in diverting part of a $32,000 contract financed by a multilateral bank — the Central American Bank for Economic Integration — to his adviser and campaign strategist, Federico 'Choreco' Cruz. On Tuesday, the top court also asked Chaves' minister of culture and former chief of staff, Jorge Rodríguez, to stand trial in the same case. The case first emerged in 2023 when local media released leaked audio recordings that purported to show Chaves discussing Cruz's involvement in the contracts. Chaves and his allies have other cases pending against them. Costa Rica's attorney general's office filed a separate indictment last week accusing the president of illicit financing the 2022 election campaign that brought him to power. Chaves also denies those charges. ____ Follow AP's coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at
ABC News
01-07-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Ecuador's former vice-president Jorge Glas sentenced after dramatic embassy raid
An Ecuadorian court has sentenced former vice president Jorge Glas to 13 additional years in prison for misusing public funds allocated to rebuild areas affected by a devastating 2016 earthquake. Glas, 55, is currently in prison serving out convictions in two prior corruption cases and had been due for release in little under three years. However, Monday's sentence means his jail time is extended until 2041. The court said it had applied the maximum possible sentence. The politician, who had served as vice president under the leftist Rafael Correa, was captured by Ecuadorian authorities following a raid on the Mexican embassy in Quito last year. The raid led to the severing of diplomatic ties between Ecuador and Mexico, and prompted Mexico to put in a complaint to the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Mexico maintained Ecuador violated international law by breaching the embassy, while Ecuador accused its counterpart of illegally granting asylum to Glas. Glas's court case had revolved around the reconstruction work carried out after a devastating earthquake in Ecuador's coastal provinces of Manabi and Esmeraldas in 2016, which left nearly 700 people dead. The Supreme Court in Quito ruled that Glas did not use the millions of dollars collected from Ecuadorian taxes towards the reconstruction for that purpose. Some of the money was used to build a bridge in a remote area far from the disaster zone. Carlos Bernal, a former official tasked with leading the reconstruction work, was also given 13 more years in jail. Glas's lawyer argued there was no evidence of misappropriation of public funds for personal benefit or that of third parties, nor harm to the national treasury. During the trial, Glas insisted he had no access to the earthquake reconstruction fund and did not manage contracts awarded by the reconstruction committee. He has long argued that he is a "politically persecuted person". Supporters were quick to condemn the court ruling. Sacha Llorenti, General Coordinator of the International Commitee for the Freedom of Jorge Glas, called it "outrageous and abhorrent". "Without evidence, political decisions are being made to keep Jorge as a political prisoner," he wrote on social media. Outside of court, Glas's defence lawyer Andrés Villegas told reporters the "dignity" of the nation's criminal justice system had been "buried" with the sentence. In 2017, Glas was removed through a decree of Correa's successor Lenín Moreno. Shortly after his removal, Glas was sentenced to six years in prison for leading a million-dollar corruption network between politicians and embattled construction company Odebrecht. The Odebrecht scandal — named after Latin America's largest construction conglomerate — is labelled by the region's legal advocates as one of the "largest transnational bribery schemes ever uncovered". In 2020, Glas was found guilty for his role in a separate scheme where he collected bribes in exchange for issuing public contracts between 2012 and 2016. He was sentenced to eight years in jail. In 2022, an Ecuadorian judge ordered Glas be released from prison, after his lawyers claimed Glas was not safe behind bars. It was after this he sought refuge in Mexico's Quito embassy. ABC/Wires
