They had been bombed by the US but they were not drug traffickers: 32 Ecuadorian fishermen acquitted
The ruling reopens the debate on the legality of U.S. Southern Command's military operations.A vessel targeted by US forces
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Ecuadorian justice has acquitted 32 fishermen on two fishing boats bombed by U.S. forces in the Pacific of drug trafficking charges .
The Manta city court ruled that there was no evidence to support the fishermen's involvement in illegal activities or their membership in the criminal gang "Los Choneros," recently declared a terrorist group by Washington.
"After examining the evidence presented by the Prosecutor's Office, the judge ruled that it had not been proven that these vessels and crews had committed any illegal act. There was no crime," defense lawyer Juan Alvia told Efe news agency.
Manta's ruling reopens the debate on the legality of the interventions and extrajudicial executions carried out by U.S. military forces belonging to the Southern Command as part of a vast anti-drug trafficking operation in the Pacific and Caribbean waters called "Southern Spear."
According to records from human rights organizations , more than 200 people have been killed in US forces' anti-drug operations on the high seas. Last week, the NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) urged the governments of the United States and Ecuador to disclose the legal basis for these attacks and to "immediately investigate the abuses reported by crew members."
(Unioneonline)