Colombia’s Supreme Court approved the shortlist of candidates for the position of Prosecutor General, one and a half year after the original deadline.
Following the court’s decision that the shortlist handed in by President Juan Manuel Santos was viable, the court decided to interview the candidates on Wednesday.
The court may be prevented by voting by a recent lawsuit that asked the Constitutional Court to declare Santos’ new shortlist unconstitutional. According to the plaintiff, a lawyer, the Supreme Court is obliged to pick the new Prosecutor General from the original shortlist handed in by President Alvaro Uribe.
The court was never able to elect a new PG from the former president’s shortlist, claiming it was unviable as the candidates were criticized in the media for having no experience in penal law and thus not having the qualifications to lead the Prosecutor General’s Office, responsible for the trials against politicians with alleged ties to paramilitary death squads, allegedly corrupt former officials and security officials accused of illegally wiretapping government opponents.
Former Defense Minister Juan Carlos Esguerra, former prosecutor Carlos Gustavo Arrieta and former Senator Viviane Morales are currently shortlisted.