A former Bogota official jailed on corruption charges said he will fight the conviction as he began serving an 8-year sentence.
Francisco Rojas Birry, a former Bogota ombudsman and prominent indigenous politician, received $110,000 from a former official of DMG Grupo Holding S.A., a company disbanded by the government in 2008 over suspicions of laundering drug money. Birry allegedly used the money for his campaign in 2007.
“I will appeal,” he said Tuesday as he presented himself to a Bogota court, local media reported. “Members of indigenous peoples deserve a place other than prison.”
Birry motioned for a trial in an indigenous court but was denied.