‘Don Berna’ suspends statements before Colombian authorities

Extradited paramilitary warlord ‘Don Berna’ has suspended all statements before Colombian authorities for “security reasons.”

News station W Radio reported on Monday that Diego Fernando Murillo Bejerano, ex-boss of paramilitary faction the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), filed a statement before the Supreme Court, announcing that he was “suspending all participation in court proceeding from Colombia because the safety of my family and my legal counsel is at permenant risk.”

Murillo Bejerano, who was extradited to the United States in 2008, claimed that the campaign to silence him continued relentlessly, “two of my close relatives have been killed, my family receive constant threats, my lawyers are subject to intimidation…”

‘Don Berna’ went on to request that organizations such as the United Nations, the International Criminal Court and the Inter American Commission on Human Rights intervene in the Colombian Peace Process to bring an end to the impunity practiced by the Colombian State.

‘Don Berna’ closed the statement complaining that assets that he had handed over to the colombian prosecution by way of reparation, had been neglected, destroyed and devalued during the two years since his extradition to the U.S.

Murillo Bejerano, a renowned narcotics trafficker and paramilitary leader, rose up power through associations with the now defunct Medellin Drug Cartel, which was headed by infamous drug lord Pablo Escobar until his death at the hands of police in 1993. ‘Don Berna’s’ Bloque Nutibara ruled the Medellin and Antioquia underworld until its demobilization in 2006.