However, the three-judge panel also upheld his continued detention, arguing that it could not “modify” his sentence.
Former Ecuadorian Vice President Jorge Glas’s defense team has welcomed the decision to declare his arrest at the Mexican embassy in Quito illegal.
Still, lawyer Sonia Vera Garcia vowed Friday to appeal the ruling that upheld her client’s continued detention.
“We thank the international community,” she said wrote on the social media platform X. “His support led to the detention being declared arbitrary, a step forward.”
“However, Jorge remains imprisoned. We will appeal until we secure his release.”
The ruling came after Francisco Hidalgo – a member of Glas’s left-wing political party Citizen Revolution – filed a writ of habeas corpus on behalf of the former vice president earlier this week, arguing that he had been unlawfully detained.
Glas’s arrest was the subject of ongoing international tensions. On April 5, Ecuadorian police stormed the Mexican embassy, climbed over the fence and pointed a gun at a top diplomat who tried to block them from entering.
In its ruling on Friday, a three-judge court in Ecuador found that the arrest on embassy grounds was indeed “illegal and arbitrary.”
Judge Monica Heredia wrote that “the detention became illegal without the authorization of the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Political Affairs of the Mexican Embassy in Ecuador.”
International law protects embassies and consulates from interference by local law enforcement. This “rule of inviolability” theoretically allows diplomats to carry out sensitive work without fear of reprisals from their host country.
However, beleaguered public figures like Glas have also turned to embassies to seek temporary refuge from arrest, knowing that local police are not allowed to enter without permission.
Glass was convicted twice on corruption charges. He was sentenced to six years in prison in 2017 and eight years in 2020.
In the hours before his arrest, Mexico’s foreign ministry announced that it had granted political asylum to Glas, who had been taking refuge in the embassy in Quito since December.
But the raid on the embassy sparked a real dispute between Mexico and Ecuador.
Mexico then broke off diplomatic relations and recalled its embassy staff from Ecuador. Countries across Latin America and the Organization of American States (OAS) have also denounced the police crackdown.
But the government of Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa has tried to defend the raid, which was authorized by decree.
Furthermore, it was argued that Glas should not be entitled to political asylum because his convictions were not the result of persecution.
But the three-judge court said Friday that the government’s defense of the raid had “no legal basis.”
Although the tribunal ruled that the arrest itself was unlawful, it ruled that Glas should remain behind bars given his previous convictions.
“This tribunal cannot change the verdict,” Judge Heredia said.
Glas is currently serving his prison sentence in Guayaquil, where he is on a hunger strike in protest. He was hospitalized earlier this week.
On Thursday, Mexico filed a complaint with the International Court of Justice seeking to expel Ecuador from the United Nations over the embassy raid – at least until the country formally apologizes for its violations of international law.