House arrest of Medellin capo to be re-examined

Medellin judge calls for a secondary medical examination of the convicted drug gang leader Alirio de Jesus Rendon Hurtado, alias “El Cebollero,” reported newspaper El Tiempo Monday.

After Rendon was released from prison and placed under house arrest due to cited medical health problems, Colombia’s defense minister’s ordered authorities to investigate the circumstances surrounding the release of El Cebollero.

The court has confirmed that the two doctors who had issued the original medical evaluation of Rendon had been suspended from their positions because they had turned in their diagnosis of Rendon, without obtaining the essential signature of the center’s director. The two medics working for Medicina Legal have been suspended for 90 days.

Colombia’s Minister of Justice Juan Carlos Esguerra said in reference to the investigation that “the evidence shows that the doctors failed in their professional duty.”

The secondary medical evaluation will seek to determine if Rendon really suffers from a bad heart, or if his medical problems are actually less severe and could be treated by doctors in jail. Rendon’s defense lawyer had requested that his client be evaluated by international doctors, however, the medical re-examination will occur at the Clinica El Rosario, located in the neighborhood of El Poblado in Medellin.

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