Audiencias telemáticas y valoración de la prueba testimonial y digital en el proceso judicial ecuatoriano: implicaciones procesales para la inmediación y la contradicción.

Abstract

This essay analyzes the procedural implications of telematic hearings in the assessment of testimonial and digital evidence in the Ecuadorian judicial process, with the purpose of evaluating their compatibility with the principles of immediacy and contradiction in light of current regulations, procedural doctrine and relevant national jurisprudence. The paper examines the dogmatic foundations of both principles, the Ecuadorian normative framework on telematic hearings and evidence, the effects of virtuality on the practice of remote testimony, the challenges of authenticity and integrity of digital evidence in non-presential settings, and the procedural standards observed in comparative law. The essay concludes that the current telematic model in Ecuador satisfies the formal requirements of due process, but does not uniformly guarantee the material conditions required by immediacy and contradiction when decisions rest on testimonial evidence or disputed digital evidence. A normative gap is identified in the differentiated regulation for virtual environments, both in the verification of identity and control of the declarant's environment and in the criteria for authentication and integrity of digital evidence. It is therefore concluded that it is necessary to incorporate into the Ecuadorian procedural system specific rules that distinguish between management hearings and hearings involving personal evidence, and that establish clear parameters for the production and assessment of evidence in telematic contexts.