He was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Áñez, 54, was sentenced on Friday for “unconstitutional decisions” and “omission”. Prosecutors say Áñez, then a right-wing senator, violated the rules guaranteeing constitutional and democratic order after Bolivia’s 2019 presidential election. Bolivia has been divided over whether a coup took place when then-President Evo Morales resigned in 2019, with Áñez taking over the presidency amid a leadership vacuum. Morales’s departure was followed by mass protests over the disputed election, in which he claimed to have won a controversial fourth consecutive term. Áñez claims she is innocent. The case in question has further exposed the rifts in a deeply divided country and also raises concerns about its legal process. “We are concerned about how this case has been handled and we call on the higher courts to look into how the proceedings were conducted,” said Cesar Munoz, a senior US researcher at Human Rights Watch. Áñez was not allowed to attend the trial in person, instead attending the hearing and attending prison. She has been detained since her arrest in March 2021 on initial charges of terrorism, insurgency and conspiracy. Members and supporters of Morales’s Movement to Socialism (MAS) party, which returned to power in 2020, say Áñez played a key role in the coup against Morales, Bolivia’s first indigenous president, who oversaw the dramatic reduction in poverty. . President from 2005 to 2019. As president, Áñez criticized the settlement of political bills when her government prosecuted former MAS officials. Áñez’s supporters say her trial was illegal and political. At trial, Áñez said it was a product of the circumstances and that her rise to the top helped calm a tense nation and laid the groundwork for elections in October 2020. “I did not raise my finger to become president, but I did what I had to do,” Áñez said in her final statement to the judge. “I took over the presidency out of obligation, in accordance with the provisions of the constitution.”
