Colombia’s war crimes tribunal JEP assumed all pending criminal investigations against demobilized paramilitary commander Salvatore Mancuso.
The JEP ruling sidelines the transitional Justice and Peace system, which was set up in 2005 to try commanders of the now-defunct paramilitary organization AUC.
In a previous decision, the JEP refused to assume investigations carried out by Justice and Peace tribunals.
Mancuso had appealed this decision, arguing that the Justice and Peace investigations could interfere with those of the JEP.
Now that the JEP has assumed all investigations, the war crimes tribunal will also decide whether or not to release the former AUC commander from prison.
Justice and Peace had sentenced to eight years in prison, the maximum sentence in the paramilitaries’ transitional justice system.
Mancuso spent more than 15 years in American prisons after the AUC’s former commanders were extradited on drug trafficking charges in 2008.
Ahead of Mancuso’s return, President Gustavo Petro granted him the status of “peace manager,” which would allow the AUC’s former commander to take part in peace building efforts.
Mancuso has repeatedly said he wanted to help the JEP reveal the ties between the AUC and Colombia’s elite, including former President Alvaro Uribe.
The AUC’s former chief has additionally expressed interest in mediating the demobilization of AUC successor group like the AGC, which is currently Colombia’s largest illegal armed group.
This paramilitary organization was founded by former AUC members citing government betrayal in the peace process that followed their demobilization and disarmament.
According to the AGC’s defense attorney, the paramilitary organization has more than 13,000 armed fighters, which makes it almost as big as the AUC was in the early 2000’s.
Petro has vowed to negotiate the demobilization of the AGC as part of his “Total Peace” policy, which seeks the participation of multiple illegal armed groups in a peace process that was agreed with the now-defunct guerrilla group FARC in 2016.