A former commander of the now-demobilized paramilitary group AUC will face punishment for the kidnapping of Piedad Cordoba, reported local media Friday.
A Colombian judge has ordered ex-paramilitary leader Ivan Roberto Duque, alias “Ernesto Baez,” to serve a subsequent prison sentence for the kidnapping of ex-senator Piedad Cordoba.
Duque, who is currently incarcerated in a maximum security prision in Itagui in the central northwest Antioquia department on separate charges, was accused of facilitating the kidnapping of high-profile Liberal Senator Piedad Cordoba in May 1999. Cordoba’s kidnapping caused popular outrage and she was released after two weeks.
The kidnapping charge was first brought against Duque on December 3, 2009. At the time, prosecutors also held him responsible for crimes of homicide, conspiracy and recruitment of minors.
The judge also linked Duque to the murder of journalist Jose Emeterio Rivas, as well as those of several indigenous and political leaders in the central province Caldas, between October 2001 and March 2004.
A trained laywer, Duque is a former leader of the Central Bolivar Bloc of the AUC. Duque and several of his men formally demobilized on December 12, 2005.