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24 charged in Paraguay for crimes in political unrest

Xinhua, April 9, 2017 Adjust font size:

24 people have been charged in Paraguay for violence that took place in and around the parliament building in recent weeks, including a police officer who shot an opposition lawmaker in the face with a rubber bullet.

A statement from the prosecutor-general on Saturday said that policeman Benito Joel Sanabria had been charged with causing "bodily harm in the exercise of public duty against legislator Edgar Acosta."

Acosta, from the Liberal Radical Authentic Party (PLRA), had to undergo reconstructive facial surgery and will be operated on again in the future for the wound he received on March 31, during a protest outside Congress.

According to the Ultima Hora daily, besides Sanabria, 16 people were arrested for attacking the parliament building, four for violence against the police, two for attacking a police vehicle, and one for robbery and disturbing the peace.

However, so far, nobody has been arrested for the death of a young PLRA militant who was shot dead by police at his party's headquarters on April 1.

The violence took place after a group of senators approved, in a secret session, a controversial change to the constitution that would allow President Horacio Cartes to stand for re-election in April 2018. It would also allow former president Fernando Lugo, who was impeached in 2012, to seek to return to power.

Paraguay's current constitution prevents presidents from standing for a second term due to fears of a return to dictatorship. Enditem