Murder Accused Dragged Out Of Police Station, Burnt Alive In Ecuador

A man was dragged out of a police station and burned alive in front of officers in South American country Ecuador. According to local newspaper Extra, the incident took place on Sunday (April 20) hours the man was arrested in connection with a fatal shooting. The outlet called this act "community justice", but did not identify the man. He was said to be British. The man was accused of shooting a man in the isolated village of Playas del Cuyabeno.

The police arrested the unnamed man and locked him in the station while waiting for reinforcement. But a few hours later, a group of locals stormed the police station, broke him out and dragged him to the Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve, which is situated in Ecuador's Amazon region, and set him on fire, as per Extra.

His body was later seen on ground covered in a white sheet as people stood around.

"In the early hours of Sunday, April 20, in the parish of Playas de Cuyabeno, at the closure of an event that took place for the anniversary of the Kichwa community, an incident occurred where as a result two people died," a local television station said in its report on the villager's murder and the violence that followed.

"Those two people were a community member from the area and another person of British nationality who died due to the severity of his burns."

Playas del Cuyabeno is a small village and the economy here is dependent on the the wildlife reserve, Ecuadir's second largest. The village is accessible only by a boat.

As per Extra, Article 171 of the Ecuadorian Constitution recognises indigenous jurisdiction, but establishes clear limits: decisions must respect human rights and cannot contradict national law. The lynching and murder of a person, even if suspected of a crime, constitutes a crime under the Comprehensive Organic Criminal Code (COIP) and can be investigated by the Prosecutor's Office as homicide or murder.