PUBLIC AI Index: AMR 28/003/2008

02 October 2008

Further Information on UA 79/08 (AMR 28/01/2008, 25 March 2008) Possible prisoner of conscience/legal concern

ECUADOR Guadalupe Llori (f), former governor (prefecta) of the province of Orellana

After almost 10 months in jail Guadalupe Llori was acquitted of all charges on 19 September. According to the terms of the acquittal, she should have been released immediately but due to administrative confusion and apparent lack of appropriate action by the authorities, she was not released for a few days.

Guadalupe Llori was elected as governor of Orellana province, representing the opposition party, the Pluri-national Pachakutik United Movement – New Country (El Movimiento Plurinacional Pachakutik – Nuevo País), on 17 October 2004. According to her lawyer and local organizations, she was accused of organizing a strike that brought oil production in the Dayuma parish of Orellana, in Ecuador’s northwest Amazonian region, to a halt. She was arrested in her home by the Ecuadorian army on 7 December 2007, and accused of sabotage and terrorism related to the strike. Further charges, of fraud, were brought against her after she was imprisoned, in what appeared to be an attempt to keep her in prison long enough to remove her from her office.

Guadalupe Llori is free of all charges against her, although it is not known whether or not she will be able to take up her former post as governor due to the length of time she has been detained.

Many thanks to all who sent appeals. No further action is required at present.