Government declares war on judges who release suspects arrested for violent crimes

Interior Minister John Reimberg says he is “outraged and disgusted” that some judges consistently release suspects arrested for violent crimes. “Some of these people are arrested again and again and certain members of the judiciary continue to allow them to go free,” he said Monday. “Enough of the soft judges.!”

Interior Minister John Reimberg

“The police risk their lives on the streets every day but then their work is diminished when a judge or sometimes a prosecutor allows criminals to go free because of procedural errors or for no good reason at all,” Reimberg said.

“We have had cases where these criminals go out and kill more people after their release — and even kill police officers,” he said. “Criminals who commit violent crimes should be where they belong — in prison.”

Reimberg said he is creating an inter-institutional “security table” that will include officials from the Interior Ministry, the Attorney General’s office and the Council of the Judiciary. “The goal of these discussions will be to protect the public from violent criminals and to set up a review process in cases when dangerous criminals are released. Mistakes are made by police and prosecutors, it is true, but these alone should not put the public at risk.”

Reimberg’s comments drew sharp reactions from lawyers and civil liberties advocates.

“I am concerned with the rhetoric that appears to attack the judiciary for simply doing its job,” says Rubén Calle, president of the Azuay Bar Association. “The vast majority of judges are following rules established in the constitution and by law. If the evidence in a crime does not meet the criteria for pre-trial detention, or if the police and prosecution make serious errors in the arrest and investigation, the judge is required to rule accordingly.”

Juan Miller, law professor at the University of San Francsico-Quito, points out that many bad judges have already been dismissed from their positions for mistakes, and sometimes for corruption. “More than 90 judges have been fired since 2023 and some of those are being prosecuted for illegalities, as they should be,” he says.

“Yes, I agree that murderers should not go free, but it is up the legal process to determine if they are, in fact, murderers,” Miller says. “The basis of our criminal system is the presumption of innocence until guilt is proven, and to the right to due process.”