Suspected rebel officers jailed in Ecuador

AFP QUITO — A judge ordered 14 police officers held in preventive detention as court proceedings began against the alleged perpetrators of a rebellion in Ecuador last week that President Rafael Correa called an attempted coup.

Also being held was Fidel Araujo, an ally of former president Lucio Gutierrez, whom Correa accused of inciting the uprising that left 10 dead and 274 wounded.

Among the officers ordered held was Rolando Tapia, head of the legislative security service.

A state of emergency which has allowed the military to take over functions of the police was set to end on Friday.

Arrest orders were issued earlier in the week against 46 police officers in connection with last week's rebellion, which plunged the South American nation into turmoil and prompted international support for the government.

Of those, 22 police officers have been released and another 11 remain at large.

Hundreds more are under investigation for participating in the revolt, prosecutors said.

Correa said Wednesday the state must seek punishment against the policemen "with all the firmness of the law," and told foreign reporters there would be "no forgiving or forgetting" of their actions. He added the group amounted to only a "few" officers in the force.

He also warned, however, that "the coup is not over" and said "it will be very difficult in the future to guarantee that the situation, maybe not on the same scale, won't happen again."

Hundreds of police officers rose up in revolt over a law that reduced their bonus pay. Correa was cornered in a police hospital for 12 hours, after his attempt to personally confronted rebellious officers in Quito backfired.

Correa, a leftist who denounced the uprising as a coup attempt, was rescued by loyal soldiers and police.

Top police officials were arrested or forced to resign, but the mass of the force remains in place.

The president earlier this week raised salaries of higher ranking military and police. Defense Minister Javier Ponce said the raises were unrelated to last week's turmoil, and had been due since 2008.