Three out of the four aides to former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe called to testifyover illegal wiretapping conducted by state security agency DAS have failed to answer prosecutors’ questions.
Uribe’s former communications adviser Jorge Mario Eastman was scheduled to take the witness stand Friday morning but the proceedings were postponed because he had a trip planned, El Tiempo reported.
Former press secretary Cesar Mauricio Velasquez did not show up in court for questioning Thursday. Velasquez’s lawyer said that because he had assumed the post of Colombia’s ambassador to the Holy See in Rome, he can only be examined by the Colombian prosecutor general.
On Wednesday former presidential adviser Jose Obdulio Gaviria arrived in court but declined to answer questions from the prosecutor general on the advice of his lawyer Antonio Jose Cancino, who requested that the prosecutor first provide evidence showing why it is necessary for his client to testify.
Uribe’s former judicial adviser Edmundo del Castillo has been called to take the stand on Tuesday.
The men are suspected of involvement in the illegal wiretapping of Supreme Court magistrates, journalists, human rights workers and opposition politicians.