memorandum of justification concerning human ... - Just the Facts
memorandum of justification concerning human ... - Just the Facts
memorandum of justification concerning human ... - Just the Facts
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UNCLASSIFIED<br />
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a practicing governor at <strong>the</strong> time, <strong>the</strong> Prosecutor General requested <strong>the</strong> President<br />
suspend him <strong>of</strong> his <strong>of</strong>fice. Óscar de Jesús López turned himself in ten days after<br />
<strong>the</strong> Prosecutor General ordered his arrest. López‘ links to <strong>the</strong> Sociedad de<br />
Exploracion y Exportacion Minera del Llano Limitada, a company in which<br />
Guerrero Castillo, a fugitive, is a shareholder, are under investigation. The former<br />
governor is being investigated for <strong>the</strong> charge <strong>of</strong> conspiracy to commit aggravated<br />
crime.<br />
13) Enrique Osorio De La Rosa: The former <strong>of</strong>ficial from <strong>the</strong> National Registry <strong>of</strong><br />
Civil Status (<strong>the</strong> agency responsible for issuing citizens papers headquartered in<br />
Bogota) was indicted on March 4, 2009, by a specialized court prosecutor for his<br />
alleged role as co-author in a conspiracy to commit aggravated crime by altering<br />
electoral results. The investigation is related to <strong>the</strong> alleged fraud committed in <strong>the</strong><br />
March 10, 2002, elections in Magdalena, where Salomón Saade Abdala and José<br />
Rosario Gamarra Sierra were elected to <strong>the</strong> Senate and House <strong>of</strong> Representatives,<br />
respectively. According to <strong>the</strong> findings, <strong>the</strong>se political leaders obtained <strong>the</strong><br />
greatest number <strong>of</strong> votes for this department with atypical election results. Osorio<br />
De La Rosa, Saade Abdala, and Gamarra Sierra appear to have collaborated with<br />
<strong>the</strong> political wing <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> self-defense groups headed by Rodrigo Tovar Pupo, alias<br />
―Jorge 40,‖ with regard to <strong>the</strong> preparation and execution <strong>of</strong> electoral fraud. The<br />
prosecutor imposed upon Osorio De La Rosa a preventative detention without<br />
prisoner release benefits in May 2008. Saade Abdala and Gamarra Sierra in<br />
anticipation <strong>of</strong> an impending sentence, accepted <strong>the</strong>ir responsibility in <strong>the</strong> fraud<br />
and will complete <strong>the</strong> punishment imposed by <strong>the</strong> judge.<br />
14) Jaime Gutiérrez Angel: On April 29, 2009, in Manizales, members <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />
Technical Investigations Unit (CTI) brought resolution to an order for capture<br />
issued by <strong>the</strong> National Anti-terrorism Unit to <strong>the</strong> former Mayor <strong>of</strong> La Dorada<br />
(Caldas) for his alleged role in a conspiracy to commit crime through<br />
paramilitarism. Gutiérrez Angel, who served as a local political leader for <strong>the</strong> U<br />
Party from 2004 to 2007 and was affiliated with <strong>the</strong> Peasant Self-defense Force <strong>of</strong><br />
Magdalena Medio, was apprehended in his residence in La Dorada and has been<br />
transferred to Bogotá.<br />
15) Rubén Darío Gómez Bermúdez: The former Mayor <strong>of</strong> Puerto Tejada (who<br />
served between January 2002 and January 2003) was captured on April 24, 2009,<br />
for his alleged role in <strong>the</strong> crimes <strong>of</strong> homicide <strong>of</strong> a protected person; <strong>the</strong> fabrication,<br />
trafficking, and bearing <strong>of</strong> firearms or munitions; and conspiracy to commit crime.<br />
According to <strong>the</strong> investigation carried out by a prosecutor from <strong>the</strong> Human Rights<br />
and International Humanitarian Law Unit, Gómez Bermúdez is on trial for his<br />
UNCLASSIFIED