Colombia’s former justice minister accused of seeking support from death squad
Source: Colombia Reports
Colombia’s former justice minister accused of seeking support from death squad
Posted by Stephen Gill on Mar 15, 2016
A Bogota court has asked the Prosecutor General’s Office to investigate alleged ties between Colombia’s former Minister for Interior and Justice and far-right paramilitary groups.
The Bogota Justice and Peace Tribunal, in charge of criminal investigations against former members of the now-defunct paramilitary umbrella group AUC, sent evidence of the alleged ties between the paramilitaries and former Minister Fabio Valencia to the chief prosecutor with the explicit request to proceed with a criminal proceedings.
According to the court that was investigating former paramilitary chief Ramon Isaza, there exist merit to prosecute Valencia, a senior dynasty politician and political power broker who currently is adviser of his former boss, ex-President Alvaro Uribe, and the conservative Democratic Center party.
Among the evidence sent to the court is a letter by the paramilitary commander to Valencia in October 1994. In this letter, the paramilitary leader rejected supporting Valencia in that year’s Conservative Party primary.
Read more: http://colombiareports.com/colombian-former-minister-investigsted-parapolitics/