Colombia’s State Council on Tuesday dismissed the current Prosecutor General, the country’s highest public prosecutor, based on flaws in her election process.
After more than 12 hours of consideration, the State Council decided to remove Viviane Morales from her position as head of the Prosecutor General’s office.
“Election laws were violated therefore annulment must occur,” announced the president of the State Council, Gustavo Gomez. A lawsuit was filed last year claiming that the Morales Hoyos’ 2010 election violated several articles of the Colombian constitution because she was voted into office by 14 out of 18 judges when she actually needed the support of two-thirds (16) of all 23 judges to vote her in.
Gomez concluded the session by saying that “as mandated by the constitution, three new candidates should be proposed and considered [to replace Morales Hoyos].”
Morales will immediately have to be replaced by vice Prosecutor General Wilson Martinez, until her successor is elected.
Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos will be responsible for proposing a shortlist of three candidates and it will be up to the Supreme Court to make the decision. In this process, Santos is allowed to put Morales on the shortlist.
The removal of the country’s highest public prosecutor from office is a blow against the cases against some of the country’s most high-profile politicians who were charged by Morales over corruption scandals, and the illegal wiretapping of the Supreme Court, government critics and opponents.
