Conservative Party politician and former Congress President Luis Humberto Gomez Gallo on Wednesday was sentenced to nine years in jail for his ties to paramilitary death squads.
Colombia’s Supreme Court considered it proven that Gomez Gallo was voted into Congress through pressure on voters by the Tolima Bloc of now-defunct paramilitary organization AUC.
The sentence of Gomez Gallo is the highest so far given to the dozens of convicted local and national politicians who entered the legislative branch between 2002 and 2006 through paramilitary influence.