A non-governmental human rights group said Monday it has filed a formal complaint against former President Alvaro Uribe Velez accusing him of making defamatory statements.
The 62-page legal action was filed by the Jose Alvear Restrepo Lawyers’ Collective (CCAJAR) after the former president accused the group of being linked to the FARC, Colombia’s largest guerrilla group, on his twitter account.
The NGO group claim Uribe, has repeatedly through twitter, tried to discredit and delegitimize their human rights work by accusing the organization of supporting and receiving funding from the FARC.
“Collective Jose Alvear can ensure that it has not had ties to narco guerrilla,” Uribe twitted indicating the NGO’s alleged involvement with the FARC.
“#Das: What legitimacy Lawyers Collective has dedicated to slandering those fighting terrorism,” he continued.
The complaint filed against Uribe accuses him of committing offenses of conspiracy, political harassment, slander and libel.
In addition to Uribe, complaints has also been filed against former Minister of Interior and Justice, Fernando Londono and former presidential adviser, Jose Obdulio Gaviria.
The complaint filed stated that Uribe, Gaviria and Londono “seek our institutional and personal annihilation, to systematically harass politically by our status as human rights defenders, to slander and treating us like terrorists and corrupt, through reckless, false and baseless statements.”
Gaviria recently retracted a statement made in September 2012 indicating that journalist Nestor Morales was linked to former Cali cartel. Morales withdrew the complaint after Gaviria publicly apologized on his twitter account.
The organization has requested that the General Prosecutor’s Office to conduct a speedy investigation.
It is expected that the investigation will start this month. A sectional prosecutor will analyze the evidence submitted by the organization, and schedule a hearing which will intend to reach an agreement in the case.
Sources
- Denuncian a expresidente Uribe por ‘trinos’ en contra de Colectivo de Abogados (El Espectador)
- Néstor Morales retirará denuncia por calumnia contra José Obdulio Gaviria (Bluradio)
