The hearing scheduled to consider the request for preventive detention against former senator Erico Galeano was suspended on Wednesday after his defense filed new legal challenges to halt the proceedings, according to El Nacional.
The Specialized Sentencing Tribunal for Organized Crime was set to review the request from prosecutors Silvio Corbeta and Deny Yoon Pak, who sought Galeano's imprisonment following his resignation from the Senate and the subsequent loss of parliamentary immunity.
However, Galeano's attorneys filed a repossession appeal and also promoted a preventive habeas corpus petition before the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ), temporarily blocking the consideration of the prosecution's request.
The Public Ministry maintains that there is no longer a constitutional impediment to ordering Galeano's preventive detention, given that he no longer enjoys parliamentary immunity.
Galeano was sentenced on March 4 to 13 years in prison for money laundering linked to drug trafficking and criminal association, as part of Operation A Ultranza Py, one of Paraguay's largest investigations into organized crime. The sentence was later upheld by an appeals court, strengthening the prosecution's position on the need for stricter precautionary measures.
In response, the defense argues that the conviction lacks direct evidence and claims that Galeano does not appear in wiretaps or in elements demonstrating knowledge of the illicit origin of the funds investigated. His lawyers have also filed an appeal for cassation before the Supreme Court seeking to annul the conviction.
The tribunal must now first rule on the defense's motions before setting a new date to analyze the preventive detention request. Meanwhile, Galeano remains free while the pending judicial actions proceed.