Hospital arrest for detained Medellin town councilor?

DETAINED Medellin town councilor and former town mayor Ricardo Ricky Ramirez may be placed under hospital arrest.

This developed after Ramirez, who had been detained at the Medellin municipal jail after he was arrested in late July for illegal possession of firearms, was confined on Friday at the Cebu Doctors’ Hospital to undergo further tests after he suffered chest pains inside the jail.

Lawyer Inocencio dela Cerna, Ramirez’s legal counsel, told Cebu Daily News in a phone interview that they were allowed by Judge Antonio Marigomen of the Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 61 of Bogo City to stay in the Cebu City hospital in the next few days to undergo the tests.

However, Dela Cerna said that his client would seek permission to be placed under hospital arrest until his client’s trial if after he undergoes the tests, the doctors would recommend his longer stay in the hospital

Last Thursday, Ramirez was brought to the Bomedco Medical Hospital in Medellin when he began to complain about recurring chest pains and “abnormal” swelling of his legs. The hospital, however, only provided non-conclusive results, citing the lack of advance technology to determine the cause of Ramirez’s symptoms.

They then sought and got permission from the court to undergo tests in Cebu Doctors’ Hospital in Cebu City, which is approximately 80 km south of Medellin town.

Ramirez has been detained at the Medellin municipal jail awaiting trial of the complaint on illegal possession of firearms filed against him by the Provincial Intelligence Branch (PIB), who made the arrest last July after they seized eight unlicensed, high-powered firearms from his residence in Medellin.

The Cebu Provincial Prosecutor’s Office ruled that the arrested official should face a non-bailable offense for illegal possession of at least three firearms.