Nadia Beller requests protected witness status before testifying against Cerimedo
Beller's lawyer submitted a memorial to the La Paz Public Prosecutor's Office seeking protection for his client. Beller will testify from Santa Cruz after surviving an attack on 17 August.
Beller seeks protection before testifying in money laundering case
Nadia Beller's lawyer, Jerjes Justiniano, submitted a memorial to the La Paz prosecutor requesting that his client be declared a protected witness, according to El Deber. The request was filed before Beller gave her statement in the money laundering investigation that authorities are pursuing against political adviser Fernando Cerimedo, Beller's former partner.
"Her statement was scheduled for today; however, we are submitting a memorial to the same prosecutor because the case is pending in La Paz, in which we are requesting that she be granted protected witness status," Justiniano said.
The lawyer explained that the protected witness figure, contemplated in Bolivian law, guarantees a person the confidentiality of personal data such as identity and address, in order to ensure their participation in the trial. Justiniano noted that Beller is willing to testify, but that, given the information she possesses and the testimony she will provide, she fears that her life may be at risk. "What she has stated is that, if she has information, she will be revealing it," he affirmed.
Statement taken in Santa Cruz by cooperative commission
Beller was summoned to testify on Wednesday 26 August in La Paz; however, a cooperative commission from Santa Cruz travelled to her home—a relative's house—to take her statement at 16:00, in her capacity as a witness.
The measure was adopted in the context of an attack that Beller suffered on 17 August, when she received three gunshot wounds at the entrance of a hotel in the capital of Santa Cruz. The attackers approached her posing as delivery workers.
Following the attack, Beller identified Cerimedo as responsible for the assault and filed a series of accusations that led to investigations for domestic violence, attempted femicide, and money laundering against him.
Prior informative statement and awaiting formal charges
Justiniano clarified that his client has already provided a statement in the domestic violence case, an investigation that the Public Ministry opened on its own initiative. "We are awaiting the filing of formal charges against Cerimedo," the lawyer stated.
Beller circulated photographs and messages related to the acts of violence she is denouncing, material that prompted authorities to open the investigation on their own initiative. In her statements, she also alluded to acts of corruption and implicated government officials.
Source: El Deber