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The court, according to an EFE source, ruled that Cape Verdean justice “acted outside its jurisdiction” when it arrested him on June 12 “.
The Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States (Cedeao) has ordered Cape Verde to place the Colombian businessman Álex Saab under house arrest, accused of multiple acts of corruption and detained in the African country at the request of the United States, instead of keeping him in custody.
A source from the Saab defense team informed Efe on Wednesday 2-D that the Cedeao Court, based in Abuja (Nigeria) and of which Cape Verde is a member, has ruled in favor of ending the current regime of imprisonment of the Colombian businessman.
In a hearing held this Monday, the court ordered the state of Cape Verde to relax the measure taken against the alleged frontman, considering that Cape Verdean justice “acted outside its jurisdiction” when it arrested him on June 12. to respond to an extradition request made by the United States.
A “special correspondent”
“The Cedeao Court of Justice therefore recognizes Álex Saab’s special envoy status and Cape Verde’s lack of competence to detain and judge him,” the aforementioned source in the city of Praia, capital of this island country, told Efe. West Africa.
According to this source, the order has “immediate effects”, although the reaction of the Cape Verdean authorities to the ruling of that community judicial body, by whose statutes the country is bound, is not known.
Efe tried unsuccessfully to contact the Attorney General of the Republic, José Landim, to find out about Cape Verde’s response to the court ruling.
It is the first time, in almost twenty years of existence of the Court of Justice of the Cedeao, that Cape Verde has been prosecuted for violating human rights in its territory, while the other countries of the Community are often cited and condemned in this court.
This judicial body has competence to resolve conflicts not only between states, but also between citizens and states, especially regarding the violation of human rights.
Saab’s lawyers filed a court case on October 5, deeming the detention of their client illegal.
The defense has already asked the Cape Verdean authorities to house arrest the entrepreneur, citing his health, which requires certain care and the attention of a doctor, as a reason.
Last month, the Cedeao court asked the Cape Verdean justice to allow external medical treatment to the Colombian businessman.
Saab was arrested on June 12 when his plane stopped to refuel at Amilcar Cabral International Airport on the Cape Verdean island of Sal (north), following a US request through Interpol for alleged recycling of money.
When he was arrested, Caracas claimed he was a Venezuelan citizen and a government “agent” who was “in transit” in Cape Verde, so his lawyers say he “had the right to personal inviolability as a special envoy from Venezuela” .
The defense filed two appeals this November – one rejected and another pending resolution – to obtain the alleged frontman’s freedom.
These appeals were filed for exceeding “the maximum period allowed to remain in prison”, as stated by the businessman’s legal team, arrested on June 12 and in pre-trial detention since June 14.
Former Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón, who leads Saab’s defense team, said then that “the maximum period of deprivation of liberty in the framework of an extradition process, according to Cape Verdean law, is eighty days”.
The Cape Verdean government and the Barlavento court, based on the northern island of San Vicente, have approved the extradition of the businessman, although the defense has appealed the decision of that court before the Supreme Court of Justice (STJ).
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