Latin American Jurists Demand Release of Jorge Glas

The American Association of Jurists (AAJ) once again denounces to the international community the arbitrary detention of the former Vice President of Ecuador, Jorge Glas, who remains imprisoned today despite having fully served his sentences.

It also criticizes the Ecuadorian government for its deliberate denial of the right to appeal the ruling by failing to notify the written sentence in the "Reconstruction of Manabí" case, states the AAJ in its most recent declaration, to which Prensa Latina had access this Sunday.

The entity, which operates as a Non-Governmental Organization attached to the UN and has an Argentine headquarters, also emphasizes that Glas already served one hundred percent of the sentences imposed in the so-called Odebrecht and Bribes cases on October 2, 2025, "thereby extinguishing, by operation of law, any state authority to maintain his deprivation of liberty for those causes."

Despite the latter, the former vice president continues to be illegally deprived of his liberty in the framework of the "Reconstruction of Manabí" case.

The authorities have not notified him of the written first-instance sentence, which prevents the exercise of the right to appeal the ruling and constitutes a frontal violation of due process, effective judicial protection, and the principle of legality, protected by Articles 7, 8, and 25 of the American Convention on Human Rights.

In its statement, the AAJ vigorously and categorically repudiates the imposed detention conditions, which constitute cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment, with immediate vital risk, in open violation of the American Convention and the measures dictated by the organs of the Inter-American system.

In turn, it holds the Ecuadorian State internationally responsible for non-compliance with its duty as guarantor regarding the life, health, and personal integrity of Jorge Glas.

And it demands the immediate, full, and verifiable compliance with the precautionary measures of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the provisional measures of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, including urgent hospitalization in an adequate medical center.

Likewise, it warns that the use of punitive power under conditions that generate physical and psychological suffering constitutes a form of structural institutional violence, prohibited by international law and consistently denounced by Latin American critical criminal doctrine.

"The persistence of these violations enables the reinforced intervention of international protection mechanisms, including the special procedures of the United Nations," emphasizes the AAJ in its communiqué, signed by its president, the Argentine jurist Claudia V. Rocca.

The continental association reaffirms its commitment to the fight against judicial manipulation (lawfare), the defense of human rights, and the full force of the Rule of Law in Latin America.