Bolivian chief justice faces impeachment trial

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By Martin Arostegui

SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia | The chief justice of Bolivia's Supreme Court is facing an impeachment trial in the Senate, which critics claim marks the beginning of an effort by President Evo Morales to impose his will on the nation's judiciary.

Mr. Morales supporters, who hold a majority in the lower chamber of Bolivia's Congress, voted last week to impeach Chief Justice Eddy Fernandez, accusing him of "retarding justice" by failing to hear thousands of cases pending before the court.

"The Chamber of Deputies refers the case to the Senate this week for its consideration," said Senate President Oscar Ortiz of the conservative Podemos Party. Morales opponents hold a one-seat majority in the upper chamber.

Mr. Morales has vowed to remake Bolivia as a socialist state modeled on Cuba, and he makes no secret of his desire to put sympathetic judges in the courts.

"For the people to have power means having control of executive power, legislative power and judicial power ... we need justice for the workers," Mr. Morales told a rally of pro-government unions Tuesday.

The main case that Justice Fernandez had refused to hear concerns former President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, who lives in exile in the United States.

He is blamed for the deaths of 67 Indians in a 2003 attempt to put down demonstrations calling for his ouster. The ultimately successful campaign was led by Mr. Morales and his Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) political party.

In a telephone interview. Mr. Sanchez called the trial a "sham" and said that Mr. Morales should be on trial for "backing the violent protests which toppled a legally elected administration."

Mr. Morales went on to win the presidential election in 2005 to become the nation's first ethnic Indian leader.

With Justice Fernandez absent, the Supreme Court opened hearings Monday on the case against Mr. Sanchez amid a tense standoff between dueling groups of protesters in Sucre, where the court is based.