European human rights organizations are still waiting for a verdict in the case against Colombia’s former President, Alvaro Uribe, whose administration has been accused of spying in Brussels.
According to the six human rights organizations that sued the former head of state and the DAS in 2010 after evidence emerged indicating that Colombia’s now-defunct intelligence agency spied on them in 2004 and 2005.
The complaint was accepted by a court in Brussels in 2010, after the organisations claimed they were victims of a smear campaign orchestrated by the DAS, which accused them of being FARC associates, Colombian journalist Julian Martinez said.
In his book “Chuzadas: Ocho Años de Espionaje y Barbarie”(Wiretaps: Eight Years of Espionage and Barbarism), Martinez published the story of Belgian lawyer Veronique van der Plancke, who represents the organizations that are also active in Colombia.
Van der Plancke said the leader of the illegal wiretapping operation in Europe. Detective German Villalba traveled to Belgium for spying on a number of MPs from the European Parliament who were declared as opponents of the Democratic Security policy by Uribe’s government.
Julian Martinez
This is the only active legal case in Europe against Álvaro Uribe and some of his former intelligent chiefs over the DAS spying scandal.
A second lawsuit against the former president, also brought in 2010 by more than 10 organisations, claimed the DAS illegally spied on them in Spain. This case was dismissed earlier this year after the statute of limitations expired.
“We made a legal case against Uribe, his first intelligence chief Jorge Noguera and detective Villalba for the crime of seeking and disclosing secrets between 2004 and 2005,” a member of Taula Colombia said.
However, the Taula spokesperson claimed progress in the case went too slow and expired “due to a judicial negligence in Colombia.”
The Spanish Court demanded information from Colombian justice. Colombia did not respond on time and the legal case was closed after seven years.
Taula Colombia
Colombia’s Supreme Court convicted Noguera to eight years in prison and ordered the investigation of the former president Alvaro Uribe over the illegal wiretap practices.
Uribe’s 1st intelligence chief convicted for setting up illegal wiretap operation
Uribe has denied responsibility for his former intelligence chief’s crimes.