The Supreme Court opened an investigation Tuesday against former congressman Luis Fernando Almario for his alleged ties to paramilitary groups while in office, El Espectador reported.
The Court is seeking to clarify if the former representative from the southern Caqueta department received support from the now demobilized leader of paramilitaries who operated in the area, Juan Carlos Monje.
Almario was named in proceedings last year by the Supreme Court’s Justice and Peace Tribunal for allegedly having links with the FARC and his supposed involvement in the murder of Colombian politician Diego Turbay Cote though no conviction was handed down.
Almario denied any such links, stating, “I am a victim of the armed groups, not their ally.”
He was also held in detention from February 25, 2008 over accusations of “farcpolitics” until a judge in Bogota overruled the decision and released him in May 2009.