The alternate magistrates of the First Chamber of the Court of Appeals of the Criminal Branch of Higher Risk Processes revoked the preventive detention dictated against the retired military Hugo Ramiro Zaldaña Rojas, processed in the Molina Theissen case, under the argument of their current health status. Therefore, you will enjoy a substitute measure at your home, under telematic control.
Although Zaldaña Rojas was sentenced in 2018, along with other retired military, for the disappearance of Marco Antonio Molina Theissen and the rape of his sister, Emma Guadalupe, made in 1981, the sentence has not yet been firmly firmly for filed legal resources.
Zaldaña Rojas was imposed a sentence of 58 years in prison for the crimes of duties against humanity, forced disappearance and aggravated sexual violence.
In their resolution, the magistrates stated that, although article 264 of the Criminal Procedure Code does not allow to grant substitute measure, it was accessed based on legal doctrine, treaties and international agreements, for reasons of humanity. Therefore, the preventive detention issued since 2016 by a court was revoked.
The magistrates also argued that, after analyzing the file and in verifying that a second degree sentence is still missing, the case is far from concluding, which could aggravate the health of Zaldaña Rojas, who remains in the Military Hospital with sufferings of interstitial pneumopathy post covid, arterial hypertension, reflux, among other discomforts.
In the resolution, the magistrates ordered that Zaldaña Rojas can only move from their home to health centers. He has prohibition of leaving the country, of communicating with other defendants and must attend the Public Ministry monthly to register its footprint, as part of the procedure.
I feel extremely satisfied, the family too, because it has been unjustly deprived of liberty for nine years and three months. The Chamber did justice, they gave us the review of coercion measures in the sense that it will be released with telematic control. He will be with his family, he is 83 years old, it was a difficult fight, said Judicial President Karen Fischer.
For their part, the lawyers of the Molina Theissen family affirmed that the resolution of the magistrates is “plagued by illegalities”, at the end of the audience to review coercion measures.
The resolution was issued by alternate magistrates Benjamín Maldonado, Carlos Martínez and Víctor Castillo Mayén.