Bolivia's attorney general opens probe into former president Evo Morales over 2009 killings

Acting Attorney General José Armando Urioste announced a preliminary investigation into former president Evo Morales and his former vice-president Álvaro García Linera for alleged participation in the 2009 murder, torture and unlawful detention of three European citizens. The investigation follows a police operation in Santa Cruz that resulted in the deaths of Eduardo Rózsa Flores, Michael Dwyer and Árpád Magyarosi, while Mario Tadic and Elöd Tóásó survived and later reported being tortured after their arrest.

Urioste’s letter to the Supreme Court says authorities are gathering evidence of murder, abuse, torture and illegal detention. The case was prompted by a complaint from right-wing lawmakers Tomasa Yarhui and Rodrigo Antonio and builds on a 2021 Inter-American Commission on Human Rights report that found the Bolivian government had violated human rights in the incident. Morales, the first Indigenous head of state in Bolivia, remains in hiding facing two active arrest warrants unrelated to this probe, and has not responded to the latest allegations.