Key facts
- Bolivia's attorney general is investigating former President Evo Morales for alleged murder and torture.
- The investigation concerns events in 2009 where three European citizens were killed and two survived.
- The probe was initiated by a complaint from rightwing lawmakers Tomasa Yarhui and Rodrigo Antonio.
- The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights previously found human rights violations by the Bolivian government in the case.
- Morales is currently evading arrest on two other warrants.
Bolivia's acting attorney general, José Armando Urioste, announced on Monday a preliminary investigation into former President Evo Morales for alleged involvement in the murder and torture of European citizens in 2009. The investigation was initiated following a complaint filed by rightwing lawmakers Tomasa Yarhui and Rodrigo Antonio.
Urioste stated in a letter to the supreme court that authorities are gathering evidence against Morales and his former vice-president Álvaro García Linera for alleged crimes including murder, abuse, torture, and unlawful detention. The case dates back to a 2009 police raid on a hotel in Santa Cruz, which resulted in the deaths of Bolivian-Croatian Eduardo Rózsa Flores, Irishman Michael Dwyer, and Hungarian-Romanian Árpád Magyarosi. Survivors Mario Tadic and Elöd Tóásó reported being tortured after their arrest.
At the time of the raid, the Morales administration claimed Rózsa Flores was leading a separatist movement funded by the Santa Cruz economic elite. In 2021, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights concluded that the government had violated human rights in connection with the events.
Neither Morales nor García Linera have commented on the latest inquiry. Morales, who is currently in hiding, faces two other arrest warrants: one related to protests earlier this year and another accusing him of trafficking a minor, which he denies.