Bolivia’s attorney general has announced an investigation into the former president Evo Morales, alleging that he took part in the murder and torture of European citizens in 2009.
José Armando Urioste, the acting attorney general, announced the preliminary inquiry on Monday, one week after taking up the post.
In a letter to the supreme court, Urioste said authorities were gathering evidence against Morales and his former vice-president, Álvaro García Linera, “for the alleged commission of the crimes of murder, abuse, torture and unlawful detention”.
The inquiry follows a complaint filed by two rightwing lawmakers, Tomasa Yarhui and Rodrigo Antonio.
The case concerns a police raid on a hotel in the city of Santa Cruz, in which officers shot dead Eduardo Rózsa Flores, a Bolivian-Croatian, Michael Dwyer, an Irishman, and Árpád Magyarosi, a Hungarian-Romanian.
Two men survived the raid. Mario Tadic, a Bolivian-Croatian, and Elöd Tóásó of Hungary reported being tortured after their arrest.
The Morales administration, which held power at the time, said Rózsa Flores was leading efforts to promote a separatist movement funded by the rightwing economic elite of Santa Cruz.
During the raid, Morales told the press on an official visit to Venezuela that he had ordered the detention of the foreigners, whom he called “mercenaries”.
Family members and the victims brought the case before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, which concluded in 2021 that the government had violated human rights.
Neither of the accused has commented on the latest inquiry.
Morales, the first Indigenous person to lead Bolivia, is currently in hiding from two active arrest warrants. One relates to his alleged role in massive protests that paralysed the country for 53 days earlier this year. The other accuses him of trafficking a minor with whom he is said to have had a daughter. Morales denies the allegations.
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