A court in Bolivia has summoned former President Evo Morales to the first hearing of his trial on charges of trafficking a minor, but the trial risks being delayed after his lawyers say they have not been formally notified. According to the prosecution, Morales, who led the country from 2006 to 2019, is alleged to have had an affair with a 15-year-old girl in 2015, while he was still president. The relationship, according to the indictment, also produced a daughter.

Investigators allege that the teenager's parents had given their consent in exchange for political favors and privileges.
"The start of the trial against former President Evo Morales has been confirmed for Monday, with his presence," Judge Luis Ortiz Flores told a news conference in the Tarija region, where the trial is expected to take place. However, Morales' lawyer, Wilfredo Chavez, said neither his client nor his defense would appear.
"We can't go, because we haven't been notified," he told AFP, adding that the court had not sent the summons to the former president's residence, but had only published it in the media.

Morales, 66, the first indigenous president in Bolivia's history, has been in hiding since 2024 in the Chapare region, his political stronghold and a region known for its coca production, to avoid arrest after an arrest warrant was issued for him. According to local media, thousands of indigenous supporters have formed a kind of protection around him to prevent police intervention. In January 2025, after his absence from a hearing, the court charged Morales with insubordination, temporarily suspending proceedings until he appears or is arrested.
Judge Ortiz Flores stressed that in Bolivia only corruption cases can be heard in the absence of the accused, so it is up to the court to decide whether the trial against Morales can continue without his presence. The former president's defense also argues that his presence is necessary under the Inter-American Convention on Human Rights, to guarantee him the right to be heard and to present his defense before the court.

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