Retired General Miguel Alfredo Maza Marquez, who is being investigated for his alleged role in the 1989 assassination of presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galan, was granted bail Monday, according to a press release from the Prosecutor General’s Office.
The former DAS director is accused of homicide and terrorism relating to the murder of Liberal party leader Galan, but the 240 days allowed by Colombian law to establish a case have now elapsed and, upon payment of a bond, Maza Marquez will be released.
Galan was shot dead in Soacha, a town on the outskirts of Bogota, as he walked on stage to give a speech to over 10,000 people. At the time of his death Galan was the favorite to win the presidency.
Pablo Escobar is suspected of involvement in the killing, after Galan declared himself an enemy of the drug cartels. The politician publicly ousted Pablo Escobar from the Nuevo Liberalismo party, at an event in Escobar’s home town of Medellin in 1982.
An earlier attempt by the prosecution to have the crime classed as a crime against humanity so that the time limit would not elapse was unsuccessful.