Colombia’s Inspector General has requested a review of testimony offered by former AUC commander “Don Berna,” to determine whether investigations into former officials should be reopened, reported Colombian daily El Espectador Monday.
The investigations center around a plot to discredit the Supreme Court, as it attempted to investigate links between politicians and paramilitary groups during the 2002-2010 presidency of Alvaro Uribe.
Diego Fernando Murillo, alias Don Berna, recently provided compelling testimony alleging the Uribe government collaborated with the AUC paramilitary group which he led, as well as implicating officials in the Supreme Court plot.
Inspector General Alejandro Ordoñez said investigators would “assess the claims and evidence which may go against the officials and, where it is merited, proceed according to the law.”
Murillo only agreed to talk to prosecutors within the last two weeks, having refused to cooperate since late 2010.
Last week former senator Rocio Arias, who spent 27 months in prison for her paramilitary links, welcomed the news of Don Berna’s testimony, saying, “It is not right that some of us were implicated while others stayed out there, quiet and hidden.”