A Colombian human rights prosecutor declared the 1986 murder of El Espectador editor Guillermo Cano a crime against humanity, meaning that no time restriction is placed on its prosecution, reports El Espectador.
Cano was assassinated as he left his newspaper’s office on December 17, 1986. Defining the murder as a crime against humanity will allow the unsolved case to remain under investigation beyond the 25-year maximum time limit on legal proceedings.
The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court states that crimes against humanity, as well as war crimes and genocide, are not restricted by statutes of limitation.
The declaration was made by the National Unity of Human Rights, which is part of the Colombian prosecutor general’s office.
In January, the legal body came to the decision that crimes committed by the Medellin Drug Cartel, who were allegedly responsible for Cano’s murder, were designed to exterminate a particular group of people, and are therefore deemed as crimes against humanity.