FBI says evidence against former hostage is ‘not conclusive’

The FBI said Tuesday that the voice of ex-hostage and political deputy Sigifredo Lopez did not match that of a recording found on a FARC leader’s computer.

According to the U.S. investigators, a voice found on a video recording on the computer of the deceased FARC leader “Alfonso Cano” was not “with complete certainty” that of Lopez, according to Colombian radio station Caracol.

Colombia’s Prosecutor General’s Office will decide Wednesday whether to take the conclusions of the FBI into account in the case against Lopez, radio station W Radio reported.

Lopez was arrested in May 2012 after being accused of orchestrating a 2002 FARC kidnapping of 12 political deputies, including himself, from the Valle del Cauca department government building.

The key evidence in the case against Lopez is a video showing the shadow of a man, presumed by the prosecution to be Lopez, explaining to presumed FARC guerrillas how to enter the Valle del Cauca Assembly building.

FARC rebels killed all hostages apart from Lopez in 2007, in what they said was due to a mistake in communication between two guerrilla fronts. Lopez claimed that the survived because the guerrillas kept him separate from the others at the time.

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