Lawyers of the families of eleven civilians who disappeared after the army retook control of the Palace of Justice that had been occupied by M19 guerrillas is 1985 say retired army colonel Alfonso Plazas Vega is purposely frustrating the trial against him.
Plazas Vega is on trial, because the victims' families claim he is responsible for the forced disappearance and murder of their loved ones.
But the retired colonel and his lawyers the past eight months have resorted to all sorts of tricks to frustrate and halt the kidnapping and forced disappearance trial, lawyer Jorge Molano told Caracol Radio.
"He has designated six defense attorneys, has sought to extend the legal terms, has tried to dismiss the judge three times, four times he asked the suspension of the hearings to read the reports and on one occasion he accused the court of conflict of interest before the Supreme Judicial Council," the lawyer said.
The controversial official is on trial, because in the aftermath of an M19 siege of the Palace of Justice, the army was seen moving away civilians from the scene. These civilians never re-appeared.
Isabel
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... What a bad article! First of all it is a bad translation!!! Zero perspective and only one side of the story... What do the Lawyer of Mr. Plazas has to say? Was the army "retaking" the Place of Justice or recovering it from those that took power? The army was not the one assassinating.... the M-19 was. The Cornel (r) has not been tricking anyone as this article suggests, he has been applying the law in a corrupt case that has violated every single civil liberty a human being has. Please review the process then write about it! |
Adriaan
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... Hi Isabel, The article is about what the lawyers of the victims said. There was no reaction of Plazas Vegas or his defense attorneys available. The article doesn't imply anything, it just quotes what the lawyers of the victims say. As soon as the lawyers or the colonel has something to say in reaction their reaction will be published too. As you mentioned, Plazas Vegas claims M-19 killed the victims, despite several witness accounts and footage that show the people, who later disappeared, were escorted from the Palace unharmed. That's what the whole trial is about. Reviewing a 24-year long process before deciding to write about the (valid) opinion expressed by victims would mean that in the end nothing would be written about it at all. I don't understand what you're so upset about. |
Civilian
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... This is a good article. It is evident that Any defendant in a criminal trial who has over TEN attempts to suspend and trick the continuance of a hearings and the process, specially in a case like the DOCUMENTED Disappearance of civilians by the military forces in a historic event like the Palace of Justice in 1985, is subject to severe mistrust not only by the public domain, but also by the legal system of any country. First, when someone is innocent, they want to go to trial to prove it, not frustrate the trial. Second, the author of this article is only stating the facts as provided by the official records. Third, even the judge has to send the defendant to a surveilled prison so that Mr. Plazas would comply with his hearings and stop presenting excuses. ( newspaper "El Espectador"). So before we jump to categorize an article as " bad" you might want to read the article a second time... All emotions/passion aside. Thank you. |
Civilian
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... On another note....Isabel. You posted a critique to the article on its translation. Please make sure your own text is proofread for grammar before sending it. It looks really bad...... (What "do" the lawyer...) |
