memorandum of justification concerning human ... - Just the Facts

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9) Arnulfo Peñuela Marín: The former Mayor of Carepa (Antioquia) was
preventatively detained for conspiracy to commit aggravated crime. Epitacio
Antonio Arboleda and Jaime Alonso Castrillon, representatives of the Convivir
Papagayo (cooperative), were issued the same. The detention was issued by the
Prosecutor General‘s Office (Fiscalia) after, for the second time, a prosecutor
before the Supreme Court of Medellin denied the resources for appeal and legal
control imposed by the defense of the accused and ratified the preventative
detention issued in April 2008. To sustain the decision, the specialized prosecutor
transferred the testimony from former AUC paramilitary ringleaders to the
investigation before the Justice and Peace Unit. In their ―versiones libres,‖ they
explained how illegal armed groups in the banana region of Antioquia were
financed.
10) Rafael Antonio Garcia Garay: On March 24, 2009, the former mayor of
Coveñas (Sucre) was preventatively detained without prisoner release benefits by a
prosecutor of the National Anti-Terrorism Unit. The prosecutor charged Garcia
and former Coveñas Councilor Manuel Ortiz Jimenez for their alleged
responsibility in conspiracy to commit aggravated crime. According to the
investigation, they allegedly had ties to Rodrigo Mercado Peluffo alias ―Cadena,‖
head of the ―Heroes de los Montes de Mari‖ bloc of the AUC.
11) Jorge Palacios Ávila, Jorge Moreno Meza, and Augusto Ariza Muñoz: The
former Administrative Security Department (DAS) officials were sentenced on
March 18, 2009, to nine years in prison and a fine of $2,250 in monthly quotas,
after the Fiscalia confirmed they had collaborated with self-defense groups. They
were deemed responsible for conspiracy to commit crime with the intent of
organizing, promoting, arming, or financing illegal armed groups and bribery by
the First Penal Specialized Circuit Court of Ibagué. The investigation began in
April 2005 when informants from the Technical Investigations Unit (CTI) found
that in Falan, Frias, Mendez, Palocabildo, and Mariquita (Department of Tolima),
the self-defense groups headed by alias ―Lucas‖ or ―Pateviela‖ and belonging to
the ―Omar Isaza‖ front carried out activities with the consent of DAS officials.
During the trial, the prosecutor from the Human Rights and International
humanitarian law unit also proved that the former DAS officials received monthly
sums of money from the illegal armed groups.
12) Óscar de Jesús López: The former governor of Guaviare was preventatively
detained without prisoner release benefits by Prosecutor General Mario Iguarán
Arana on March 16, 2009, for his alleged ties with Vicente Castaño, alias ―El
Profe‖ and Pedro Oliverio Guerrero Castillo, alias ―Cuchillo.‖ As Jesús López was
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