Alvaro Uribe‘s former Chief-of-Staff Bernardo Moreno has filed a lawsuit against the Colombian state following his dismissal from public office.
The State Council has agreed to review the Moreno case, in which he has asked the courts to overturn his 18-year ban from holding public office. The former Uribe aid has not asked for monetary compensation.
The Council is considering which judge to put in charge of the case.
Moreno has been in prison since last July, due to his alleged involvement with the now-defunct Colombian intelligence agency DAS which illegally wiretapped supreme court judges, political opponents, human rights activists and journalists.
The Inspector General’s Office previously barred the former official from holding public office for 18 years for allegedly ordering the wiretapping.
Moreno has also been accused of pressuring public administration official Guido Echeverry into appointing people allied with a congressman who had been key in amending the constitution to allow Uribe’s second term.
Uribe has previously spoken out in defense of his former aid, calling him a “political prisoner.”