The Justice of Ecuador issued this Friday (22) a request for the extradition of former President Rafael Correa of Belgium, the country that granted asylum to the politician convicted of corruption.
Correa was sentenced in 2020 in his home country to eight years in prison for taking bribes to finance election campaigns between 2012 and 2016. He denies the allegations and accuses his opponents of political persecution.
“This is not about political persecution, but about the decision of a sovereign state,” said Judge Ivan Saquicela. “A conviction for corruption crimes has been ratified.”
Also according to the magistrate, the request respects international treaties, as well as an extradition agreement that Ecuador has with Belgium.
The extradition request must be forwarded to the Quito Foreign Ministry before being sent to the Belgian authorities.
Correa has lived in Belgium since completing his term in 2017. He was granted refugee status from the European country, according to a document issued by the Brussels government on the 15th to which the AFP news agency had access.
“It’s a relief, because when they give you this protection, it proves that you are being persecuted,” Correa told AFP by phone on Friday.
Regarding the extradition request signed this Friday, the former president declared that the Ecuadorian authorities “will be ashamed”.
Correa had filed his asylum application in Belgium, his wife’s home country, in 2018, when he left office after a decade in the presidency.
According to the Ecuadorian Justice, during Correa’s term both the former president and former officials and businessmen participated in a corruption scheme in which bribes were paid in exchange for contracts, which led to the conviction of 18 people.
The Ecuadorian Public Ministry maintains that those involved requested bribes of nearly US$7.6 million.
The former president defends his innocence and criticizes the fact that he was linked to the process for US$ 6,000 that entered his bank account and which, according to Correa, was from a loan from a fund of his party.
In February, Ecuador’s Attorney General’s Office seized the assets of Correa and other government officials linked to the case. In November, the court ordered the seizure of the convicts’ bank accounts.
The former socialist president also faces trial, with an arrest warrant, for kidnapping an opponent in Colombia in 2012.
In its attempt to capture Correa, the Ecuadorian justice system asked Interpol to include him on its red list of warnings, but the requests were rejected.
