Ecuador prosecutor investigating TV station hostage incident killed – JURIST

Ecuadorian prosecutor César Suárez, who was in charge of investigating the on-air attack on a television station, was shot Wednesday while on his way to a court hearing. Local media reported that the vehicle that Suárez was driving was intercepted on the street and was shot at twenty times, killing Suárez immediately.

Ecuador’s Attorney General Diana Salazar announced that her office began investigations into the case later in the day. She said that while Suarez’s death is heartbreaking for his colleagues, it will not stop the authorities from continuing their investigations. Likewise, she called on law enforcement to deploy measures to guarantee the safety of those exercising prosecutorial functions and requested that hearings take place virtually to protect the integrity of the members of the prosecutor’s office.

The Judiciary Council responded to the request and established that the administrative and jurisdictional staff in Ecuador’s Guayas province can work remotely to ensure the security of the employees and users of the justice system.

One week prior, on January 9, a group of gunmen took a TV station in the city of Guayaquil hostage, just two days after a prominent gang leader escaped from an Ecuadorian prison, leading the country’s president to declare a state of “internal armed conflict.” Suárez was one of the attorneys assigned to investigate that episode since he was a prosecutor from the National Specialized Investigation Unit against Transnational Crime in Guayas, where the city of Guayaquil is located.