Colombia’s Supreme Court rejected the appeal of a former Colombian minister convicted of conspiring in the 1989 assassination of presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galan, said local media Tuesday.
Ex-minister Alberto Santofimio Botero’s defense appealed his conviction on the basis that the crime occurred during his time in office and therefore should have been tried by the Supreme Court; making the regular criminal court’s ruling invalid.
The Supreme Court upheld the validity of the criminal court ruling and rejected the appeal.
Former Justice Minister Santofimio was originally convicted in 2007 and sentenced to more than 24 years in prison for his role as the mastermind of the murder. The High Court of Cundinamarca acquitted him the following year, citing a lack of material evidence to prove his guilt.
A second investigation into Santofimio’s involvement began after a former drug trafficker testified that Santofimio had asked Pablo Escobar’s Medellin drug cartel to assassinate his political rival. According to the testimony Santofimio told Escobar than if Galan became president Escobar would be extradited to the US for drug trafficking.
At the time of his assassination, Galan was comfortably leading the polls for the 1990 presidential election.