The US government repatriated Salvatore Mancuso, the former commander of paramilitary organization AUC, to Colombia on Tuesday.
Mancuso spent the past 16 years in Americans prison over the drug trafficking practices of the now-defunct paramilitary organization AUC he commanded ahead of his demobilization in 2005.
The Prosecutor General’s Office issued a last-minute arrest warrant for the former paramilitary leader, claiming he was involved in the assassination of a university professor.
According to the Justice and Peace tribunal, Mancuso is a free man after serving more than eights years in prison for the crimes against humanity committed as an AUC commander.
Mancuso is expected to continue cooperating with Justice and Peace as well as the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP), a transitional justice system that is investigating crimes committed by the military and former members of the now-defunct guerrilla group FARC.
Colombia’s war crimes tribunal allows submission of former AUC commander
President Gustavo Petro appointed Mancuso as a “peace manager,” which would allow the former AUC commander to take part in peace building efforts.
Former President Alvaro Uribe illegally extradited Mancuso and 13 other demobilized AUC commanders in 2008 after they began revealing their ties to Colombia’s military and elites.
The JEP allowed Mancuso to submit because of his participation in military operations while commanding the AUC and its predecessors in the Caribbean region.
While testifying before the JEP, the former AUC chief accused Uribe, former armed forces commander Leonardo Barrero and others of having had ties to his paramilitary organization.
In the meantime, the Prosecutor General’s Office has come under increasing pressure over evidence that top prosecutors are covering up crimes allegedly committed by paramilitary groups founded by dissident AUC members.