Colombian court: No extradition in US kidnap case

[Bacchus39]

Colombian court: No extradition in US kidnap case
Associated Press Writer

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090204/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_colombia_us_extradition;_ylt=AjEeNxB54fg20_VJKqTGJl23IxIF

BOGOTA – The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that Colombia should not extradite a guerrilla captured during last year's rescue of three U.S. military contractors.

The court said its decision is not subject to appeal. U.S. Embassy officials had no immediate comment.

Alexander Farfan, alias "Gafas," or glasses, cannot be extradited on kidnapping and terrorism charges because "the crimes for which he is wanted were committed in national territory," the court said in a written opinion.

The court said its decision was based on careful consideration of Colombian law and multilateral treaties such as the 1979 International Convention against the Taking of Hostages.

President Alvaro Uribe had no immediate comment, but Uribe's close adviser, Jose Obdulio Gaviria, called the ruling "a political decision."

"It means to say that from now on the court can't extradite anyone," he told The Associated Press. "I think it's a decision that should be reconsidered."

On July 2, Colombian military agents posing as members of a humanitarian mission spirited to safety U.S. captives Marc Gonsalves, Tom Howes and Keith Stansell, along with French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt.

Farfan and a second rebel from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, Gerardo Antonio Aguilar, or "Cesar," were captured during the operation. Both were indicted and the United States requested their extradition a week later.

The three Northrop Grumman Corp. contractors were on a surveillance mission when their plane went down in rebel territory in February 2003.

Gonsalves' mother, Jo Rosano, told the AP by e-mail that while she understood the court's reasoning, "these demons took 5 1/2 years of the guys' lives away."

Wednesday's decision could affect Aguilar as well as a third rebel from a different group, Carlos Marin Guarin. Guarin is charged with two separate kidnappings of Americans, in 1999 and 2003.

In his 6 1/2 years in office, Uribe has extradited 869 people — more than 800 of them to the United States, according to the Justice Ministry. They include 15 paramilitary warlords indicted by U.S. courts on drug charges, most of whom have admitted to dozens of murders.