Three government officials offered no objection at former VP Glas’ habeas corpus court hearing

Despite claims by President Guillermo Lasso’s office that it was blindsided by a judge’s decision to release former vice president Jorge Glas from prison, it was revealed Monday that three government representatives attended the habeas corpus hearing and had no objections.

Former Vice President Jorge Glas

When asked for comments by Santa Elena Judge Javier Moscoso, Alexis Vascones, lawyer for National Service for Persons Deprived of Liberty (SNAI) said, “I have nothing to object to,” according court records. Also appearing at Moscoso’s hearing and offering no comments or objections were Jorge Comassisin, representing the National Police, and Iván Pozo from the Government Ministry.

At the end of the Saturday hearing, Moscoso granted Glas’ request for habeas corpus, ordering the former vice president released from the Latacunga Prison.

In his ruling, the judge prohibited Glas from leaving the country and said he must appear before the court on a schedule to be determined. The order is based on humanitarian considerations, Moscoso said, and “in no way exonerates the defendant from the crimes committed.”

Saturday night, the president’s office and Government Minister Francisco Jiménez issued strong objections to the release order and said that it would be appealed by SNAI.

In hearing records obtained by the Guayaquil newspaper El Universo, three doctors told Moscoso that Glas suffered from hallucinations and had attempted suicide on at least one occasion. They claimed that the treatment offered in prison was inadequate and that Glas should be released to receive “professional level” care.

One doctor, whose name was not included in the court transcript, told the judge: “The patient [Jorge Glas] suffers hallucinations on a daily basis and says he sees blood and insects on the wall of his [prison] cell. He also says that voices speak to him at all hours of the day and night.”

A German psychiatrist, also unnamed, said that Glas suffered from a mild generalized anxiety disorder when he was first imprisoned in 2017 but that the condition worsened during his four-and-a-half years of incarceration. “It developed into a serious psychiatric condition, a major depressive disorder with psychotic symptoms.”

The psychiatrist continued: “The psychiatric treatment he receives is not systematized or monitored and the medication regime he receives, which changes frequently, does not seem rational to me. In conclusion, he is in an environment in which his psychiatric disorders cannot be treated or cured.”