Colombia’s Supreme Court confirmed Monday a national and international arrest warrant for Colombia’s former peace commissioner Luis Carlos Restrepo, who is being accused of faking the demobilization of a FARC unit in 2006, local media reported Monday.
Restrepo, one of the closest allies of Colombian ex-president Alvaro Uribe and under the former president in charge of the demobilization of the paramilitary organization AUC, fled Colombia in January 2012 before a court was able to issued an arrest warrant against him for his alleged involvement in the fake demobilization of the non-existent FARC Front “Cacica La Gaitana.”
At the end of May, a Colombian judge re-revoked the international capture order for Restrepo, citing lack of evidence for his role in the false demobilization. However, Colombia’s Supreme Court re-activated the arrest warrant in June this year, a decision confirmed Monday.
The Supreme Court said the ex-commissioner had failed to prove the existence of the front and also failed to prove that the 73 participants in the demobilization were actually FARC guerrillas.
The court further said Restrepo’s defense lawyer lied when he claimed security reasons would not allow the ex-commissioner to answer before the court.
Restrepo is believed to be hiding in the United States.
