IACHR urges Colombia’s Supreme Court to pick chief prosecutor

The human rights office of the Organization of American States (OAS) pressured Colombia’s Supreme Court to pick a chief prosecutor.

In a statement, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) said that it “encouraged” the court “to comply with its constitutional duty and finalize the selection process of the person in charge of the Prosecutor General’s Office as soon as possible.”

The IACHR issued the statement the day after Prosecutor General Francisco Barbosa ended his four-year term.

In his stead, Barbosa’s former deputy Martha Mancera, who is facing multiple corruption allegations, automatically became acting Prosecutor General.

The court’s failure to pick a new chief prosecutor from a shortlist that was submitted by the president in August last year “could weaken the Colombian judicial system,” said the IACHR.

IACHR

The statement came a week after OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro said that the effective selection of a new chief prosecutor was of “vital importance” to “constitutional and political certainty” in Colombia.

The court’s failure to pick a new chief prosecutor further escalated tensions between the court, judicial employees and President Gustavo Petro, who stressed that mounting allegations of corruption caused an “institutional breakdown” inside the Prosecutor General’s Office.

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