Former Bolivian President Jeanine Áñez sentenced to 10 years for 'coup' to oust socialist Evo Morales

After nearly 15 months of languishing in pre-trial detention, former Bolivian President Jeanine Áñez was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Friday for charges levied by prosecutors that she staged a silent coup to oust her socialist predecessor, Evo Morales.

She was additionally charged by Bolivian prosecutors with conspiracy and breaching her duties to the Constitution. The charges stem from an alleged coup which occurred in 2019.

Áñez, 54 was detained March 13, 2021. She was sentenced by the court in La Paz on Friday to a women's correctional facility in the city where the nation’s seat of government is located.

The charges stem from a series of events which began November 12, 2019.

On that day, Áñez called an extraordinary session of Bolivia’s Plurinational Legislative Assembly, in which she was installed as president of the Senate, a move her critics say lined up her for the presidency.

Then president Evo Morales resigned from the presidency and left the country under pressure from military leaders who were nervous about vote rigging accusations and nationwide demonstrations.

Morales was also frequently accused of enacting pro-coca policies which helped the illegal cocaine trade.

Once Áñez took power she focused on battling COVID-19, pacifying the country, calling for new elections and repealed laws that created criminal liability for law enforcement to deal with protestors.

She has disputed the prosecutorial narrative and said she is the victim of a political distortion campaign by Morales’s political allies in Bolivia’s Mas Socialist party, which declared victories in both legislative and executive elections in 2020.

Those victories, the party argues, set the stage for Morales to return from Argentina.

Áñez was originally charged in March 2021. Defense attorneys for the embattled and imprisoned Áñez said she would seek assistance from international organizations for help.