|
Colombia Ex Paramilitary Hearing
Bogota - Colombian political sectors and society in
general are expectant for the conclusion and outcome
on Friday, of the virtual hearing against
paramilitary Chief Salvatore Mancuso taking place in
Washington.
The Attorney General's Office partially attributed
on Thursday six crimes to Mancuso, who is convicted
in a maximum security prison in the United States.
The charges are: forced disappearance, aggravated
homicide, terrorism, forced displacement of civilian
population, aggravated robbery and illegal
manufacturing and trafficking of weapons.
In the hearing, which concludes on Friday, the
Attorney General's Office said those accusations
refer to illegal acts and over 200 crimes
perpetrated in Antioquia's Ituango municipality, in
Medellin, by the Uraba bloc of the United
Self-Defense of Colombia (AUC), from 1996-1997.
According to the accusatory authority, the worst
criminal acts were practiced, and were performed by
Mancuso as head of the paramilitary organization.
Meanwhile, many revelations are expected from the ex
paramilitary chief, and they could involve
government top officials and even President Alvaro
Uribe, according to statements.
In this respect, the Voz weekly said in its latest
edition that Mancuso told Senator Piedad Cordoba and
representatives of several human rights
organizations that visited him in prison that they
do not even know a third of the facts.
The paramilitary chief has also said he was
extradited to the United States to be silenced, but
he is willing to point to many that helped him, from
the heights of power to managerial secotrs, in
forming the illegal AUC group, the weekly said.
Mancuso also asserted that the AUC helped Uribe's
presidential campaign, even with money, thus there
is still much to answer about the parapolitics
scandal, as the supposed relations of politicians
with paramilitary groups are called in this country.
The accusatory hearing that began on Wednesday is
the first part of the formal trial started against
the paramilitary chief before a right control judge.
The Attorney General's Office has registered a total
of 20,000 of Mancuso's victims, but up until now it
has only told him of 1,437. It a quite complicated
process that is just beginning, a judicial source
said, as quoted by El Tiempo daily.
According to the authorities, they will request the
maximum sentence for the paramilitary ex chief, from
50-60 years imprisonment, but he is protected by the
temporary Justice and Peace law, and will only
receive the alternative eight-year imprisonment
sentence, included in this regulation. |
|
