UN Mission: The State is responsible for public order in case of transfer of a prisoner to a hospital

  A day after violent acts were reported at the gates of the Miraflores prison following the announcement of the transfer of former president Jeanine Áñez to a hospital, the Mission in Bolivia of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights stressed that public order and security is the responsibility of the State.

"The Mission highlights that, in case of an urgent transfer of a person deprived of liberty to a medical center by instruction of a judge, the State is responsible for preserving public order to ensure the safety of that person and enforce the judicial disposition," states a publication on its Twitter account.

This Saturday, the Mission visited Áñez to verify the conditions of his hunger strike, which is now in its 11th day.

The communiqué states that the Mission "noted that so far his decision has been respected, as a legitimate exercise of the right to peaceful protest" and added that "there has been no action on the part of the authorities of forced feeding/treatment".

He also recalled that "international standards state that any forced medical treatment or forced feeding could amount to torture or ill-treatment."

Yesterday, after learning of the judicial decision to transfer Áñez to a hospital after suffering decompensation, groups related to the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) blocked the prison street, burned the vigil tent in support of the former president and carried out other violent actions preventing the judicial decision from being carried out. 

Finally, the Departmental Court of Justice of La Paz backed down and decided that the former president should receive medical attention inside the prison.

 In contrast to what happened in Miraflores, on Wednesday, February 16, former Felcn chief Maximiliano Dávila, who is in preventive detention on charges of legitimizing illegal gains in San Pedro, was taken to the National Institute of the Thorax amidst a heavy security operation.

The United States is investigating Dávila for drug trafficking and has requested Bolivia's preventive detention for extradition purposes. The request is being analyzed by the government.