YouTube reactivated the account of an exiled Colombian key witness in the “parapolitics” case against the country’s former prosecutor general Thursday, three weeks after suspending the account.
Richard Maok Riaño’s account was terminated on March 23 following undisclosed complaints that led YouTube to rule that Riaño’s account, HackerFiscalia, was violating the online video website’s terms of service.
After considering Riaño’s appeal, YouTube notified the former prosecution investigator that “we have confirmed that your YouTube account is not in violation of our Terms of Service. As such, we have unsuspended your account. This means your account is once again active and operational,” Riaño informed Colombia Reports.
Riaño was a former agent of the technical investigation unit of the Prosecutor General’s office, who was dismissed from his post after uncovering paramilitary infiltration of the office in 2002. He has been in exile in Canada for the past nine years after being convicted for allegedly illegally leaking inciminating evidence against Osorio, a crime the exiled former official denies.
The exiled Colombian is a key witness in the case against his former boss, Luis Camilo Osorio, who has been charged for having allowed the infiltration of paramilitary organization AUC in Colombia’s prosecution system.
Osorio is one of hundreds of state officials facing allegations of ties to the now-defunct paramilitaries.