Emilio Palacio, the columnist for El Universo sentenced to three years in prison and fined $40 million dollars for calling Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa a "dictator," presented a video on Aug. 18 that could back up his choice of words in a Feb. 6 editorial, according to several local press sources.
Palacio said that an anonymous source passed him a video showing President Correa ordering his agents to take control of the Sept. 30, 2010, police strikes and protests. Correa says in the video that those responsible should be "shot in the chest for treason. Those who are doing this are traitors to the Fatherland."
The journalist announced in a press conference that he would appeal his jail sentence with the video, saying that it contradicts the president's original testimony that he did not order the military to fire on the protesting police officers. President Correa said that when the regiment showed up ,the "only thing" he thought would happen was a labor protest and that it would not become a "confrontation," according to a report from the news agency EFE.
The journalist presented the video and testimony without a signature to the district attorney of Guayas, Antonio Gagliardo, for fear of legal reprisal, reported Americas Forum. Palacio said he received the video from an anonymous source he only identified as a police agent and that he would not release their first or last name.
President Correa rejected the evidence via Twitter from his vacation in Belgium saying that the video had been altered: "I say in the video that, after being gassed, 'that they throw gas that the president and shoot him the chest before I'll betray the Fatherland.'"
On the same day, Interior Minister Leonardo Berrezueta announced that the ex-opinion editor of El Universo, Emilio Palacio, "could face another trial for perjury" for altering the video, according to the newspaper El Telégrafo de Ecuador.
Click the video below to see Emilio Palacio present the evidence to the district attorney on Aug. 18, 2011.
