Hackers shut down the websites of Colombia’s Justice Ministry and a coalition party Friday to protest a widely criticized judicial reform.
Hacker collective Anonymous announced the shut-down of the Justice Ministry website on Friday evening. The website was back online Saturday morning.
The website of Cambio Radical, the political party of Interior Minister German Vargas Lleras, was hacked later Friday evening and was still showing a message saying ” You have been hacked” on Saturday morning.
Anonymous said on its facebook page the Ministry’s website was shut down to protest “impunity” granted to corrupt politicians by a justice reform that had been approved by Congress but was sent back to the legislative branch by President Juan Manuel Santos on Thursday because of its unconstitutionality and inconsistencies that “do not favor justice and transparency.”
Following Santos’ decision to not ratify the constitutional reform, Justice Minister Juan Carlos Esguerra — who had been defending the bill on behalf of the President — resigned.
The constitutional reform of the judicial branch had widely been critized. The country’s high courts boycotted talks leading up to the approval of the bill, claiming the reform would only increase the level of impunity in cases against politicians and public officials. Opposition party Polo Democratico called the reform “a deadly kick for the constitution.”