Spanish
In this case, the defendant apprehended a group of people suspected of environmental crime committed within an indigenous reserve. The plaintiff was arrested by the police for illegal detention.
The defendant was sentenced to two months jails for illegal detention by the Criminal Court from Zamora Chinchipe’s province.
he defendant appealed the decision of the Criminal Court from Zamora Chinchipe’s province in front of the Ecuadorian Supreme Court. The defendant claimed that his detention was illegal. He claims that the case must be judged by ‘indigenous justice court’ as a member of ‘Saraguro Tunkarta Community’. Therefore, the defendant requested that the Criminal Court decline its jurisdiction. He argued the violation of indigenous rights protected by the Ecuadorian Constitution and International Agreements.
The Ecuadorian Supreme Court didn’t reverse the Criminal Court decision because Indigenous Justice is enforced between conflicts occurred inside the community. It means that the offended and perpetrators must be from the same community, tribe or village and that the wrongful act must occurs within their territory. Nevertheless, the facts are different, the apprehension made by the defendant was illegal because it was not made to people from the community and it was done outside Indigenous territory.