Colombia’s prison authority INPEC said Wednesday that Salvatore Mancuso, the former commander of paramilitary organization AUC, has been released from prison.
Mancuso was released after a Bogota judge confirmed that no judicial authority objected to his release.
The former AUC commander spent the past 18 years in prison, mainly in the United States where he was convicted for drug trafficking.
INPEC will continue to monitor the Mancuso’s whereabouts to secure his cooperation with justice, which continues to investigate crimes against humanity committed by the AUC.
The former paramilitary commander has also vowed to take part in peace building activities that are being coordinated by the government of President Gustavo Petro.
Mancuso has been accused of more than 4,000 crimes, including more than a thousand homicides.
War crimes tribunal Justice and Peace, which took force after Mancuso’s demobilization in 2004, has been trying to clarify these crimes.
The JEP, the war crimes tribunal that was created after the demobilization of guerrilla group FARC in 2017, assumed these investigations earlier this year.
Colombia’s war crimes tribunal assumes all investigations against former AUC commander
According to the JEP, Mancuso’s crimes are part of the criminal investigations into crimes committed by the armed forces.
Between 1997 and 2005, the AUC often coordinated its “counterinsurgency” operations with the military, police departments and intelligence agency DAS.
Mancuso told the JEP that he was recruited by the military to create paramilitary groups and coordinate joint operations in the north of Colombia.
The former AUC chief subsequently coordinated the expansion of paramilitary operations to Norte de Santander, a province on the Venezuelan border.
While cooperating with judicial authorities, Mancuso on multiple occasions accused former President Alvaro Uribe of complicity in massacres that were committed by the AUC in the Antioquia province.
Multiple AUC chiefs have accused Uribe of extraditing them to the United States in order to sabotage their cooperation with justice in Colombia.