Colombia’s Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that Bernardo Moreno, chief of staff under Colombia’s former President Alvaro Uribe, will not have to go to jail while awaiting trial for his alleged role in the illegal wiretapping of Supreme Court judges, journalists, politicians and human rights workers.
In the same ruling, a Supreme Court judge ruled that there are enough reasons to send the former director of Colombia’s state intelligence agency DAS, Maria del Pilar Hurtado, to jail while awaiting trial.
Moreno’s defense attorney had asked for his client to be granted house arrest until after the trial, claiming his client has so far collaborated with justice and has shown no intention to escape.
Judge Luis Fernando Ramirez agreed and turned down the Prosecutor General’s request to send Moreno to jail.
Del Pilar Hurtado’s lawyer, whose client did escape the country and is now in Panama, also rejected her arrest, defending the monitoring of the Supreme Court and former senator Piedad Cordoba as “probably one of the most legitimate in history.”
According to the judge, Del Pilar Hurtado’s fleeing the country justified the Prosecutor General’s Office arrest warrant.
The Inspector General’s delegate before the Supreme Court did request that both Moreno and Del Pilar Hurtado would await trial in jail.
Both former officials are charged with conspiracy, the illegal interception of communication, abuse of public power and fraud because of their alleged responsibility in the illegal wiretapping by the DAS of Supreme Court judges, political government opponents, journalists and human rights workers.