Swedish Programmer Ola Bini Denied Bail by Ecuadorean Court

Swedish programmer and digital privacy activist Ola Bini has been denied bail by an Ecuadorean judge on Wednesday, meaning he will continue to be imprisoned in preventive custody without formal charges. 

RELATED:
UN: 'Nothing in This Story Connects Ola Bini With Any Crime'

“Ola is clearly now a political prisoner,” the FreeOlaBini campaign declared after the decision was made by Judge Yadira Proaño, who denied his request arguing that “since the Attorney General’s Office has not stated the amount of the alleged damage, the amount of the bail cannot be set.”

Bini has been accused, without charges, by the Ecuadorean General Attorney’s office for the alleged crime of attacks against information systems. Yet the defense team has informed that they still haven’t been informed of said charges after 50 days of detention.

The public hearing took place in Quito, although the defendant was not allowed to be physically present and had to declare via video conference.

“This scenario places Bini at risk of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatments,” defense attorney Carlos Soria has warned. 

According to Art. 544 of the Criminal Code a request for bail was allowed since the requirements stipulated by law to not proceed are not met. The United Nations (U.N.) and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) have denounced the Swede’s detainment as arbitrary, saying the Ecuadorean government has nothing to connect him to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange or to any crime.

The open source developer was arrested on April 11, just a few hours after Assange was removed from the Ecuadorian embassy in London. He was initially accused of participating in the "assault on the integrity" of computer systems. Later, on April 13, he was placed in 90-day preventative custody.