Carlos Garcia, former chairman of coalition party Partido de la U and
close ally of Colombian President Álvaro Uribe, was called to appear in court
Wednesday for his alleged ties to demobilized paramilitary organization
AUC.
The former senator has been in jail awaiting trial since August 2008 after the Supreme Court decided to open an investigation in April 2008. The Prosecution now has officially formulated the accusation against the politician.
The indictment for aggravated conspiracy to commit a crime is based on testimonies by demobilized paramilitaries who say that the former Senator had made deals with paramilitary organization AUC in the Tolima department to secure him a seat in Colombia’s senate.
Garcia denies being guilty of ‘parapolitics’. According to his defense attorneys the Prosecution “is only believing them [the paramilitaries] instead of people like María Mercedes Cuellar and Colonel Robayo and Senator Ricardo Ávila Mora, who are good Colombians.”