Colombia’s Supreme Court has urged the country’s Congress to open a criminal investigation into the alleged ties between a controversial former prosecutor general and now-defunct paramilitary organization AUC.
According to the radio station, sources within the court had said there were sufficient testimonies and evidence to prove ties between the country’s former chief public prosecutor Luis Camilo Osorio and the AUC.
Congress’ Accusations Committee will have to determine whether or not to investigate the former official.
The congressional committee, in charge of criminal investigations against elected officials, has an investigation pending against the former prosecutor general since 2002, only a year after Osorio was elected by the Supreme Court from a shortlist handed in by his personal friend, former president Andres Pastrana.
Former congressman Wilson Borja and Bogota mayor Gustavo Petro have claimed Osorio was involved in illegal wiretapping, while Human Rights Watch claimed as early as 2002 that Osorio was undermining investigations of members of the military with alleged tries to the paramilitaries.
In a 2012 column on Colombia Reports, exiled former prosecution investigator Richard Maok Riaño accused his former boss of appointing a number of regional public prosecution directors who were later disgraced over their ties to paramilitary groups.
MORE: Colombia’s former chief prosecutor’s obstruction of justice
Osorio has vehemently denied to have ties to paramilitary groups.
Sources
- El expediente Osorio (El Espectador)
- Corte compulsó copias para investigar a exfiscal Osorio por nexos con paramilitares (El Espectador)
- Luis Camilo Osorio (La Silla Vacia)