Martinez explained the defense attorneys asked the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention of the United Nations, actions claiming to the Ecuadorian government about corresponding safe-conduct so that Glas can go to Mexico and thus continue his political asylum process.

“We´ve insisted on the pressing need for the Working Group to activate the emergency procedure, and there may be a pronouncement by the United Nations in the short term in relation to Glas´ arbitrary detention situation,” said Martinez.

Martinez affirmed that Glas, a militant of the Citizen Revolution movement, was victim of “kidnapping and too serious mistreatment” at the time of his arrest on April 5, at the Mexican embassy in Quito.

In the request to the UN, Glas´ defense attorneys referred to how a court of the National Court of Justice declared the arrest “illegal and arbitrary”, although it decided to keep him in prison.

The defense also asked the UN Group for a delegation to visit Glas at the maximum security prison La Roca, in Guayaquil.

In this regard, attorney Sonia Vera, part of the international defense, informed that Glas is still on hunger strike and denounced his medicines have not been supplied.

Plus, the defense attorneys are deeply concerned about the too limited communication of the former vice-president inside La Roca, which would prevent him from having private conversations with his legal team.

In turn, Glas’ legal representatives also filed actions in Mexico and Germany, since he is also a citizen of the European country.

At the national level, his defense attorneys filed a habeas corpus appeal on Tuesday to insist on his release.

Intellectuals, artists and politicians from several countries asked Ecuador to release Glas who has been under judicial and political persecution for seven years.

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