Overview
- Morales, who skipped the trial opening in Tarija on Monday, was held in contempt and now faces an arrest warrant.
- The judge also ordered a travel ban, froze his bank accounts, and registered his assets for seizure, with police cleared to detain him anywhere as he stays in Chapare where followers pledge to resist.
- The court suspended the case because Bolivia bars criminal trials in absentia, and it will not resume until he is arrested or appears on his own.
- Morales’ lawyers say he was not properly summoned and call the case political, as a Supreme Court justice defends digital notifications as valid under criminal procedure.
- Prosecutors report more than 170 pieces of evidence in a case first filed in 2020, closed after Luis Arce took office, and reopened in 2024 during a political split.