Jeanine Áñez leaves prison after almost five years.
Bolivia's former interim president was released after the Supreme Court overturned her ten-year sentence for coup d'état.
247 - Former interim president of Bolivia, Jeanine Áñez, was released this Thursday (6) after remaining imprisoned for almost five years in a legal process related to the 2019 political crisis. The decision of the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) annulled the ten-year prison sentence imposed on her in the case known as "Coup d'état II"The information is from the portal. Infobae.
Áñez left Miraflores prison in La Paz accompanied by her two children and holding a Bolivian flag. Outside, dozens of supporters awaited her with flowers and signs of support. "I will never regret having served my country when it needed me most," stated the former president, who also declared that she acted "with conviction and good faith" when she assumed the interim government in 2019.
The former president also denounced being treated "like a true criminal, without any compassion," and stated that "it took the monster leaving for the Justice system to act according to the norm," referring to the electoral defeat of the Movement for Socialism (MAS) in August.
Supreme Court overturns sentence and orders immediate release.
Jeanine Áñez's release was determined after an extraordinary review requested by her defense, which argued that she should have been tried by a [prison/court]. judgment of responsibilities — a prerogative reserved for former heads of state — and not through ordinary channels. In 2022, Áñez had been convicted of assuming the presidency irregularly, by occupying the line of succession during Evo Morales' resignation.
"In this country there has never been a coup d'état; what happened was electoral fraud," Áñez reaffirmed upon leaving prison.
Next Steps
Jeanine Áñez is expected to remain in La Paz for the next few days and attend the inauguration ceremony of President-elect Rodrigo Paz, scheduled for this Saturday at the Bolivian government headquarters. According to her daughter, after the event, the former president will travel to the city of Trinidad to reunite with family and begin a new chapter in her political and personal life.
