Ecuador.- A criminal guarantees court in Guayaquil sentenced 16 military personnel this Monday for the forced disappearance of four minors between 11 and 15 years old who were intercepted by a military patrol on December 8, 2024, and whose bodies were found burned in the Taura area, an hour from Guayaquil.
Eleven military personnel received a sentence of 34 years and 8 months in prison, while another five were sentenced to 30 months for having availed themselves of the figure of “effective collaborators.” Meanwhile, a military man who was accused by the Prosecutor’s Office as an accomplice was acquitted as there were not enough elements to attribute his participation in the crime.
After a year of painful waiting for the families and a series of testimonies, reconstruction of the facts, expert opinions, hearings and statements, the judge in charge of the case, Jovanny Suárez, indicated that it was possible to determine that there was an irregular detention, transfer to an unauthorized place of the minors, concealment of information, beatings, mistreatment, suffering, defenselessness and cruelty that led to the death of Nehemías, Ismael, Josué and Steven, three teenagers and a child from the Las Malvinas neighborhood who were intercepted by a military patrol and transported to a depopulated rural area where their bodies were found charred days later.
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None of the patrol members disassociated themselves from the criminal action; on the contrary, their intimidating presence and weapons facilitated the detention, having them in their power and leading to the subsequent disappearance resulting in death”, stated Judge Suárez in the virtual hearing that
CNN covered.
The judge insisted that the patrol members omitted an unavoidable duty, which was to call 911, hand them over to the Police, and guarantee the physical safety of the minors. He added that it was proven that there was a “pact of silence” among the defendants and described the details of the trial as “heartbreaking”.
“The suffering inflicted on the victims has been determined. The patrol’s total control over the lives of the minors was confirmed,” he pointed out.
Suárez said that it was also verified that there was “abuse of state power” and affectation to the victims’ families in their emotional lives.
“They beat them, stripped them, and left them to their fate,” he pointed out.
Upon learning of the sentence, Abraham Aguirre, lawyer for the victims’ families, said that “this is a milestone in virtue of the guarantee of rights that every society must have.”
“They find some encouragement. They broke down in tears because let’s remember that it has been a year of a tortuous process and stigmatization that they experienced from certain people and social networks,” Aguirre pointed out.
From the Ministry of Defense, a statement was issued in which they expressed their “unwavering respect for the law and the sentence issued.”
CNN consulted the Presidency of the Republic about its reaction to the sentence against the military personnel belonging to the Air Force and is awaiting a response.
CNN is also trying to communicate with the lawyers of the sentenced to know their reaction or if they will appeal the sentence.
The four minors, aged between 11 and 15, lived in the Las Malvinas neighborhood, one of the poorest and most marginalized in this coastal city, where the inhabitants have been touched by the pain of these families who have not rested in their fight for truth and justice. They claim they have had no solace nor complete clarity about the circumstances surrounding the crime.
The minors disappeared on the night of December 8, 2024, after being detained and transported in a patrol car by a group of soldiers. Moments before the detention – according to the versions collected by the Prosecutor’s Office – the children had finished playing soccer and went to buy bread. The soldiers involved in the case assured that they approached the area due to the alert of an alleged robbery that led to the detention of the children. Days later, the Prosecutor’s Office indicated that it could not be proven that there had been a robbery.
