Ex-senator Piedad Cordoba is demanding a criminal investigation of Colombia’s Defense Minister and Inspector General for accusing the ex-senator of inciting violence, reported local media Tuesday.
Cordoba’s attorney, Luis Guillermo Perez, claimed that Defense Minister Juan Carlos Pinzon and Inspector General Alejandro Ordoñez committed slander when asking judicial authorities to investigate Cordoba for urging the indigenous people of Cauca to expel the army from their territory.
“Some of their claims could be false accusations. This is more than a political responsibility, but a criminal one as well. We hope that the prosecutor will also consider this in the investigation,” newspaper El Pais quoted Perez as saying.
Cordoba’s lawyer has asked the Supreme Court of Justice to allow the ex-senator to be heard during a parallel disciplinary complaint filed against Ordoñez for alleged political prosecution.
The former Senator, who was suspended by Ordoñez while under investigation for the alleged ties to rebel groups like the FARC, became the center of attention again recently after video footage appeared of the leftist politician calling on rebelling indigenous people in the violence-ridden Cauca department to resist military intervention by armed forces and illegal armed groups.