Overview
- The Supreme Court annulled Jeanine Áñez’s 10-year conviction and instructed her release the same day, according to Court President Romer Saucedo.
- Seven of nine justices backed the ruling, which found she was tried in ordinary courts instead of through a ‘trial of responsibilities’ reserved for former heads of state.
- Áñez was arrested in March 2021, spent about 20 months in pre-trial detention, and was convicted in 2022 of illegally assuming the presidency.
- She rose to the interim presidency during the 2019 crisis after Evo Morales resigned amid fraud allegations and unrest, a period that left dozens dead with rights groups citing differing tolls.
- The decision comes weeks after a runoff election brought centre-right Rodrigo Paz to the presidency, ending nearly two decades of MAS-led governments.