Ramiro Aguilar, the journalists’ lawyer, stated in a writ presented before the Second Civil Division of the Court of Justice of Pichincha, that "there can be no pardon in this case, because there is no outstanding obligation to pay”.
(Fundamedios/IFEX) – On 9 March 2012, the attorney for journalists Juan Carlos Calderón and Christian Zurita, authors of the book “El Gran Hermano”, rejected the president’s pardon of the sentence that had ordered the journalists to pay US$2 million for the alleged moral damage caused by their book to President Rafael Correa.
Ramiro Aguilar, the journalists’ lawyer, stated in a writ presented before the Second Civil Division of the Court of Justice of Pichincha, that “there can be no pardon in this case, because there is no outstanding obligation to pay”. Aguilar also requested that the chief of state’s “claim” should be made clear, so that they can respond to the request.
This was his response to the writ of “pardon” presented by Rafael Correa’s attorneys on 5 March, in which the president requested that the judges of the Second Civil Division “cancel or pardon the obligation established in the sentence” and file the process he initiated after the publication of the journalist’s book, as part of
which he demanded initial reparations amounting to US$10 million.
It is worth remembering that on 27 February 2012, President Rafael Correa publicly announced his “withdrawl” of the civil case against journalists Juan Carlos Calderón and Christian Zurita, but not a pardon.
