Colombia’s police have been accused of collaborating with the now-infamous hacker who was caught spying on the Havana peace talks for a right-wing presidential candidate, local media reported on Thursday.
The accusation stems from a case in which police published photos of students allegedly vandalizing public buses during an agrarian strike in September of last year. A judge order the removal of these photos as there was no evidence of at least one student’s involvement in the protests.
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That student is not in a lawsuit with the police. The student’s lawyer has claimed that the hacker Andres Sepulveda aided and coordinated with national and Bogota police in acquiring the photos, namely through the alleged sale of software for their collection, according to El Espectador.
Sepulveda has been called to testify in the case by Colombia’s Prosecutor General to establish the nature of his relationship with the police.
“What is clear is that the hacker did not only work for the Democratic Center by also for the [directors of the national police], and this is what needs to be clarified here,” lawyer Alejandro Ospina said, according to Caracol Radio.
Ospina was referencing Sepulveda’s role in the peace talks hacking scandal from earlier this year in which right-wing Democratic Center candidate Oscar Zuluaga’s campaign allegedly used Sepulveda to spy on the negotiations between the FARC and government taking place in Cuba.
Semana magazine published a video of Zuluaga and Sepulveda in which they discuss the hacker’s activities.
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