According to an official, jailed former Bolivian President Jeanine Anez is in "stable" health after attempting suicide after prosecutors charged her with "genocide" over the deaths of demonstrators in 2019.
On Sunday, the director of prisons, Juan Carlos Limpias, told reporters, "We can say, without a doubt, that her health is stable."
“She is currently in the penitentiary with her family. He went on to say, "The family will be an important factor in helping her improve her state of mind."
Carolina Ribera, Anez's daughter, said her mother attempted suicide on Saturday owing to "severe depression" brought on by her mother's protracted incarceration.
Anez's counsel, Norma Cueller, claimed that Anez had injured herself by cutting her lower arms. “This is the former president's cry for help. The lawyer told reporters, "She feels very harassed."
Anez, 54, was arrested earlier this year on suspicion of taking part in a plot to topple long-serving President Evo Morales in 2019.
She has denied the allegations and claims to be a victim of political repression. She is currently incarcerated pending her trial.
Attorney General Juan Lanchipa announced “genocide” accusations against Anez on Friday, citing two instances in November 2019 in which 22 people died in police battles.
Morales supporters were among the victims.
Lanchipa claimed he had supplied her with paperwork that “provisionally classified the incidents as genocide, serious and minor injury, and injury followed by death.”
Terrorism, sedition, and conspiracy are among the charges leveled against Anez.
Bolivia's opposition condemned the government's treatment of Anez and demanded that she be released.
Former centrist President Carlos Mesa called for an end to her "political incarceration" and an independent investigation of her situation.
Anez's family has sought the authorities several times to transfer her to a hospital for treatment of hypertension and other ailments.
After Morales resigned and fled the nation following weeks of violent protests over his questionable re-election to an unlawful fourth term, the conservative Anez took control in November 2019.
As the most senior parliamentarian left, she was sworn in as interim president, but her political opponents called it a coup.
Bolivia held calm, transparent elections in October 2020 under Anez's leadership, in which Morales' protege Luis Arce won a landslide victory.
Following that, Arce swore to go after anyone he suspected of organizing a coup.
Bolivia's opposition has criticized the country's lack of separation of powers, claiming that Arce's courts, electoral commission, and public prosecutor's office are all devoted to him.
