Members of Colombia’s criminal investigation unit (SIJIN) unexpectedly visited the house of the judge who recently sentenced former Agriculture Minister Andres Felipe Arias to a military detention center.
“On Friday night I got a call from the guard in my neighborhood in Neiva and informed me that at 9AM, the morning of that day, a man on a motorcycle stopped in front of my house,” said judge Orlando Fierro Perdomo.
“Then the man approached the guard, who asked what he was soliciting. He responded by saying that he was going to do a search of the house. He asked whether or not the owner of the house was available. Then the guard told him that I was not available and again asked what he was there for. This man said he was going to do a search of the grounds. He identified himself as a member of the SIJIN and showed the guard a letter document with an official seal,” the judge explained in his account to newspaper La Nacion.
While the judge and his watchman initially could not confirm that the unexpected visitor was a member of Colombia’s criminal investigation unit, local authorities Monday verified that the man on the motorcycle was in fact police.
The SIJIN officer’s visit was a part of an investigation into an alleged scam that was taking place among his neighbors but did not pertain to the judge.
When asked whether this was the first time the judge had been threatened after delivering a sentence, he explained that he “has had trouble with threats from illegal armed groups before.”
“I have been threatened and my family has been affected in situations prior to this case. But this is the first time since the verdict that something has happened.”