Shugyosha. Paranoia principal, privacy developer. Programming language nerd. In a previous life, I was a JRuby core developer and language designer - he/him
We won! I have been declared innocent of any illegal action by an unanimous tribunal of judges. Lots of more to come - this is a very important victory, but everything is not over yet. For now, huge thanks to
@sarazambranov
,
@calilo84
,
@JoseCharryD
and many more.
It's been almost 1.5 years since I was first arrested, and it's been a while since I gave an update about my legal situation here in Ecuador, so I thought I'd summarize what has happened up until now, and what the current status is. 1/
Honestly, I can't express how angry and frustrated I am at this point. After so many delays, I at least expected to be able to prove my innocence. But as usual, the judicial system of Ecuador doesn't care about justice.
Yesterday they convicted me. I don't even know where to begin. For now, I'll only say this. If you use Tor (
@torproject
) _OR_ Telnet in Ecuador, you have criminal intent. If you have technical knowledge, you have the possibility of doing a crime. That is enough to be convicted.
Today the trial against me reached a new level of bizarre, when the prosecutor literally implied I was a criminal for wearing a black hat. And no, I’m not exaggerating. And no, the prosecutor wasn’t joking in any way. This reality is too insane to be fiction.
Tomorrow is 3 years since I was illegally detained here in Quito. This Friday, the prosecutors office effected an illegal raid on the offices of my organization. Inbetween, the government of Ecuador has committed hundreds of violations of my rights. 1/30
It's amazing how people can just randomly say that you have done something, without any evidence or indications what so ever. But why should I be surprised, that is what the Ecuador prosecution has been doing for over 2 years now.
Este jueves, hace 5 años, me detuvieron en el aeropuerto, sin cargo claro. 36 horas despues, me formularon cargos bajo un articulo, sin especificar mas que el articulo. 4 meses despues, reformularon cargos, basado en una fotografia.
Today it is exactly 3 years since I was illegaly detained. 3 years since some government highups decided to corruptly use their power to kidnap me. 3 years since the police kept me from my lawyers for over 17 hours. 1/12
Me siento tan frustradado. Sigeun violando mis derechos. Nunca para. Aunque hay ratificacion de mi inocencia, todavia necesito seguir presentandome a la fiscalia cada viernes. Pero hace un mes, fiscalio esta negando tomando mi presentacion. Hoy negaron recibir escritos tambien...
I don’t know how to explain this. I’m not looking for sympathy or special consideration in any way. The simple truth is I’m lying in bed trying to sleep but I can’t stop crying from the frustration, sadness and hopelessness this situation causes.
Solo una hora despues que publique mi tuit anterior, recibimos la llamada para la audiencia, para eschuchar la resolucion. Va a ser mañana (Viernes) a las 5pm. La verdad es que tengo mucho temor que van a condenarme.
As many of you have probably seen, the offices of my NGO (
@somos_CAD
) was raided yesterday in an insanely illegal action. I’ll tell the story in more detail later today - we have many things to sort out. Until then, I’ll leave this picture which nicely illustrates the situation.
In about an hour the pretrial against me will begin. I wish I could say I’m hopeful, but honestly I’m scared. This judge have overseen so much abuse against me, and I’m afraid she will do the same again today - trampling all over my human and legal rights.
For obvious reasons, I’ve lately been thinking a lot about the start to this craziness. Many things happened that I didn’t find out about until much later. One such thing is this tweet from the Ecuadorean police:
Hard day today. It's been exactly two years since I was illegally detained and imprisoned. Two years of surveillance and harassment. Two years of over 150 rights violations. Two years of no justice. We are still waiting for the pretrial to even finish.
On Wednesday the trial against me is scheduled to happen, after being suspended in October. I haven’t said much about it here, because honestly, everything is just too hard. I’ll try to give updates when I can, but otherwise forgive me.
I posted about the Signal messaging application versus Telegram a while ago, and I received a lot of answers about different applications as alternatives. So I'd like to write a thread giving an overview about my perspective on the security of different applications. 1/53
I don’t even know where to begin. I’m very tired and frustrated. The trial against me has been suspended yet again. We did every effort, but it seemed like the judges didn’t really want the hearing to finish.
In Ecuador, there’s a tradition to burn effigies on New Years, symbolizing among other things the distancing from bad things that happened during the year. In the extremes of irony, this tradition has been banned this year, by two things that would likely have been burnt the most
Exactly a year ago, I had my birthday in prison. It was probably one of the hardest days of my life. I’m out of prison now, but the persecution continues with no end in sight.
So. I have many stories to tell from the last trial day. I’ll mention two details from the prosecutions case. First. They claimed “if you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear”. I didn’t give up my passwords and it’s clear they wanted to imply this made me a criminal.
I have lived in Ecuador for 10 years now. Finally, these last 6 months I've had the possibility to start taking intensive courses in Spanish. I have needed to be able to understand my lawyers and advisers. Now I can finally start communicating as Ecuadorians do!
Long day. So, the pre-trial against me has been suspended. My lawyers submitted a long and detailed argument about the violations against my rights. The prosecution didn’t even respond to the points, simply saying “we did everything right”
When I was in prison, I started writing on a book about security and privacy. I finished roughly 120 pages before I was released through habeas corpus. Since then I've continued writing, and I'm now fairly close to finishing a first draft!
Most of my digital belongings are still in the hands of the Ecuadorean government. Innumerable pictures and memories, access to my github account and many other places. They just stole my things - a big part of my life, without any reason, and it's soon be two years.
Last week the trial against me finally started. We spent 3 days with prosecution witnesses, and then the trial was suspended indefinitely. In this thread I'll try to tell you all some of the things that happened. 1/69
Today is exactly 2 years since I was released from prison, after a Habeas Corpus showed conclusively that my rights had been blatantly and repeatedly violated. However, until this point the violations continues, and nothing has been resolved. For how long will it continue?
Yesterday, my lawyers presented an accusation of "process fraud" to the prosecutor of Pichincha. It took several hours to present the complaint - the prosecutors office did not want to accept the accusation when they realized it came from me. 1/6
Exactly 3 years today, a court confirmed the multiple violations against me by accepting my Habeas Corpus petition. This released me from prison, but I’m still stuck in the process, suffering daily illegal surveillance and many new violations against my rights.
Han sido casi dos meses desde la audiencia pero sigue sin la sentencia escrita, entonces no puedo ejercer mi derecho a apelar.
Quizás deberían mandarme la sentencia en vez de seguir me en redes?
Today it’s exactly two years since a provincial tribunal heard my appeal against my illegal imprisonment. Two judges ratified the preventive imprisonment. 50 days later a Habeas corpus proved that judgment wrong and illegal. But those judges are still there, still judges...
Mañana va a estar la audiencia de apelación en mi caso. Algo que no debe pasar. Hace un año ratificaron tres jueces mi inocencia. La fiscalia (pero no CNT) apeló la decisión. Y el corte que va a escuchar mi caso no son imparciales...
The countdown to the trial has started for real. Every day is like a bad spy movie. Seriously, you wouldn’t believe me if I told you. It’s all craziness and it’s getting worse.
I’ve decided to ignore Christmas and New Years as much as possible this year. This is the second holiday I can’t see my family and friends. It’s almost two years since I saw my new niece. It’s very frustrating and painful, so I’ll try to ignore it all.
In June 2019, a tribunal confirmed my Habeas Corpus request. This Habeas Corpus also confirmed that my detention, arrest, kidnapping by the Ecuadorean state had been illegal, unjustified and abusive in a number of ways. But the persecution of me still continues. 1/15
Today it’s been 5 weeks - 35 days - since the Habeas Data ended. Still no resolution. Ecuadorean law says the maximum is 48 hours. My lawyers have sent in formal complaints. No answer to these either. What are the judges actually doing?
Today I'm having a new legal hearing. The biggest question is whether it will be a new legal travesty, or the judge in question will decide to be an actual judge this time. Wish me luck.
Days like these it’s really quite hard to not despair. With all this being so extremely unfair, trying to overcome the might of a government, it does feel hopeless.
In two weeks, the trial against me will start. We already know that it will be full of new violations of my rights. Just one example of absurdity: over a 100 testimonies have been requested, and the trial is scheduled for two days!!!
The police deleted it, because they knew they couldn’t substantiate it. But it’s just one example of a large number of the same kinds of baseless attacks that have been made against me, by police, prosecutors, ministers, judges and even presidents. The common thread: NO EVIDENCE!
Hace unos semanas tomé el examen de CISSP y lo pasé. Hoy me notificaron que no pueden darme la certificación por lo del caso contra mi. Me siente muy injusto. Es solo una cosa más que me ha robado este proceso político y ilegítimo contra mi. Estoy muy frustrado en verdad.
Exactly one year tomorrow, I heard my appeal for preventative imprisonment denied by a tribunal for ridiculous reasons - that were confirmed as illegal and arbitrary by my habeas corpus. I still haven’t even had my pretrial. I’m having lots of flashbacks to the time in prison.
🧵 Luego de más de 70 días de que de manera oral un tribunal, en voto de mayoría, falló en contra de
@olabini
en un caso tan patético armado por fiscalía en su contra, al fin nos notificaron por escrito.
Pero se les olvidó notificarnos con el voto salvado. Un total desapego a la
Today it has been 1000 days since I was illegally detained. In two weeks, the trial against me is finally scheduled to begin. Of course, they have absolutely no evidence of wrong doing - but it’s likely that the trial will be another collection of violations against my rights.
Hoy se cumplen 1000 días desde el arresto ilegal, ilegítimo y atentatorio a
#DDHH
que sufrió
@olabini
. Así lo ratificó la
@CorteNacional
. Esperamos, como las más de 100 organizaciones nacionales e internacionales que vigilan este proceso, que se haga justicia.
As my lawyer mentions here, yesterday we asked and received "conditional suspension" of the prison sentence. That does not mean I accept the conviction in any way.
The truth is, this conviction is very bad, for me and for the cybersecurity community. We will fight it!
Se decidió que, en caso de que se ratifique en definitiva y última instancia semejante desvarío de condena,
@olabini
no pisará una cárcel nunca más.
La suspensión condicional de la pena no supone la aceptación de la condena.
Twitter comió mi primer tuit.... Esta semana ha sido duro. Aunque el tribunal ratificó mi estado de inocencia en enero, hoy voy a Fiscalía para presentarme, como siempre. Este martes, el fiscal en el caso apeló la decisión aunque no hay pruebas de nada...
Another sad point is that CNT (the telco that accused me of entering their systems) claimed in their closing that using
@torproject
is for criminals and that this made me more likely to have committed a crime.
It’s interesting how selective these actions are - the sorting in my case has been extremely irregular several times, but the judge is still in charge.
Fiscalía también allanó la oficina de la jueza María Belén Domínguez, quien aceptó parcialmente acción de protección del removido alcalde de
#Quito
Jorge Yunda. Domínguez está suspendida por la Judicatura, que halló irregularidades en el sorteo que le asignó el caso.
Tomorrow the trial against me continues. In August it was scheduled for 2 days to be able to finish. Tomorrow we have half a day. No translator has been assigned. For these reasons we except another weird part of the persecution against me.
Hoy se instaló la audiencia de apelacion en mi caso. Hace un año se ratificaron mi inocencia, pero la fiscalia apeló. Despues muchos vueltas, problemas con interpretacion y problemas tecnicas, logramos hacer la audiencia. La unica parte que falta es la resolucion.
Yesterday, after 7 (!) months, the first stage of the Habeas Data has finally concluded. In theory, we won - at least against CIES, the central intelligence service of Ecuador. In practice, the situation is a lot more complicated. Let me review in this thread what happened. 1/53
Finally, my thanks to my family and relatives, my friends, my tireless colleagues and my training partners. Without you I would never have reached this point.
Hoy, hace 5 años, un tribunal ratificó mi prision preventiva. Un decision que en habrás corpus fue decidido ilegal. Hace un mes, el mismo tribunal me condenó. Todavía no hemos recibido la decisión para poder apelar. Pero estoy seguro que esta decisión también va a ser ilegal.
Next Monday the trial against me starts again. If the last months have been any indication, this will be full of abuse and new violations again. I expect a room that decided to sentence my as guilty a long time ago, no matter the evidence.
A month ago, CAD was illegally raided by the prosecutors office here in Ecuador. This Monday, the investigation for that case finished. None of the computers taken from our offices were used as evidence in any way. But the Ecuadorean government have decided to keep them.
#lawfare
En otros noticias, tengo una actualización sobre mi demanda contra el estado, donde los jueces en la apelación son normandas. El consejo de la judicatura HA PERDIDO TODO LA DOCUMENTACIÓN HACE UN MES!!
Hi all - so, after some rest and trying to find my equilibrium again, it's time to recount what happened this week. As I've mentioned, it was painful and frustrating, and the pre-trial is still not even concluded. This will be a long thread with lots of craziness. 1/
In a few hours the pretrial against me will resume. The only legal path would be for the judge to declare the process null and void because of all violations from the beginning (which the habeas corpus tribunal confirmed). However, we are not hopeful that this will happen.
Just came home from the pretrial. It’s been absolutely crazy - so many illegalities and rights violations. I’m honestly to fried to talk more now, but I’ll send out some more details and stories tomorrow.
We are continuing working with the lawyers to prepare for the trial, even though we don't know when it will happen. It could be months or even years.
What's interesting is that we are _still_ finding _new_ violations of my rights, even now... There's so much wrong in the process.
Today, like most days, I woke up from nightmares about prison. For various reasons, the prison experience has been at the forefront of my mind lately. So I thought I'd share some of what happened there. 1/
Como debería ser hechos todas las sistemas de
@CJudicaturaEc
:
- Solo deberían utilizar software libre.
- Porque son sistemas hechos con dinero de impuestos, todas las sistemas deberían SER software libre.
Hoy este auto, sin placa, manejo estúpidamente agresivo, estaba con la ventana media baja y en tráfico le pregunté “y la placa” me respondió, soy seguridad del Estado, quieres ver ? Mostró su arma 😨
Con miedo,deje q se adelante…
Controlen por favor
@ANT_ECUADOR
@AMT_Quito
Today the trial against me was supposed to continue. However, the tribunal have decided to suspend it, because no translator between Swedish and Spanish was available. In Ecuador, it is a constitutional guarantee to have proceedings translated to your mother tongue.
Ayer recibimis notificacin de los jueces que CNT no apelo. Pero tambien que no van a levantar mis restriciones. Entonces, no voy a poder ir a Suecio por anos... No voy a poder ver mi sobrino y sobrina por anos. =/
She further said this information soon will be handed over to the Fiscalía for potential prosecution. Very worrisome news - this seems like a witch hunt to me.
Today is Friday, which means I had to go present myself to the prosecutor who is persecuting me. When I was released from prison by Habeas Corpus, confirming the many rights violations, I had to start presenting myself. Today was the 100th time I’ve had to do this.
One of the more frustrating aspects of insomnia is the stress of knowing how miserable the next day inevitably will be if you don’t manage to fall asleep...
There has been a lot of abuse, violations, harassment and downright illegal things happening in my case. But not all of it has been directed at me. Many people around me have also been subjected to this. In this thread I want to document some of these incidents. 1/
María Paula Romo, Ecuador Minister of the Interior, this morning held a press conference, claiming there are Russian hackers in Ecuador, and also that there is one person part of WikiLeaks living in Ecuador since several years.
For almost two years now, I've been surveilled and harassed in various ways - often by persons and cars associated with various police organizations in Ecuador. However, in the Habeas Data, they certified in a court of law that no such thing is happening. This is a clear lie.
We have spent three days presenting our witnesses. Overall, it has been great. We have shown over and over again that I’ve done absolutely nothing illegal - and that the prosecution technical understanding is deeply flawed.
Probably the funniest moment from the pretrial: the prosecutor was talking about my initial hearing, where the honorary consul of Sweden had taken part. He then pointed at the Swedish embassy representative (that also translated) and said he was there. All Swedes look the same!
This complaint is called a Habeas Data, and is a constitutional guarantee. We are suing several highly placed people in order to get clarity on who has ordered this illegal surveillance of me. 31/
The Habeas Data hearing today reached new levels of insanity, illegaility and the number of lies. The hearing has been suspended until 2 hours from now, when the judge will give their resolution. To be honest, after this incredible performance from the government, I have no hope.
In fact, the prosecution spent more time in hearings talking about my friendship with Julian Assange, than actually talking about what crime I was supposed to have committed. No evidence has ever been produced of this charge. 13/
Exactly 3 years ago was the hearing of my appeal against my “preventative imprisonment”. The three judges heard my defense and prosecution, and then came back with a resolution containing data that was never said in the hearing, denying my appeal.
Out walking with the parents - it’s their first time visiting me since before the pandemic. And of course, the surveillance is still so extreme that even my parents notice it. I still don’t understand what the point is.
On Thursday October 21:st, the trial against me was set to begin. I've been saying for a long time that I knew new violations against my rights would occur - the only question would be what violations would happen. Now we know. Two days before the hearing, it has been suspended.