Colombia’s newly elected Prosecutor General has received praise from President Juan Manuel Santos, who called the election “good news” Friday.
Colombia’s Supreme Court elected lawyer Eduardo Montealegre to the position Thursday.
“I think it is good news, the election of the prosecutor(…),” said Santos in an official statement. “He will be objective and will fulfill the mandate as God commands.”
“This prosecutor is going to be a guarantee that the head of the Prosecutor General’s Office will be a person who knows the procedures, who understands the need to maintain a balance,” said President Santos.
Montealegre said before his election that if elected he would focus on human rights, promising to initiate a law in Congress to cement civil liberties.
The lawyer is a close ally of former president Alvaro Uribe, having previously petitioned congressman to support Uribe’s bid for a third-term reelection in 2010, despite the fact it was unconstitutional. The re-election bid was ultimately unsuccessful.