President of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (Conaie), Leonidas Iza (center), in Cotopaxi, Ecuador, June 13, 2022.
QUITO, June 15 (RHC) — An Ecuadorian judge has ordered the conditional release of indigenous leader Leonidas Iza, who is being jailed for encouraging ongoing anti-government protests.
The Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) had earlier denounced the “illegal” detention of its president after a nationwide strike called by the indigenous movement to protest President Guillermo Lasso’s government began.
In this context, the Ecuadorian judge Paola Bedón authorized the conditional release of the indigenous leader, imposing alternative measures to the provisional detention, although the judge found that the detention was “lawful”.
On the contrary, several publications on social networks showed that during the arrest the leader complained about the ill-treatment of the agents, who pulled the leader’s poncho and hair.
One of Iza’s lawyers, Carlos Poveda, also denounced that his client was arbitrarily detained and that his rights were not read to him. (Source/HispanTV)