BOGOTA- The National Penitentiary and Prison Institute (INPEC) of Colombia confirmed that the former head of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) Salvatore Mancuso will remain in freedom and will be released from La Picota prison in Bogotá after a Colombian judge granted him conditional release in March.
“Following the judicial decisions of last Friday regarding the freedom of Salvatore Mancuso, the INPEC management has a legal team in order to comply with the judicial decision, but must review other pending proceedings,” said Lieutenant Colonel Rolando Ramírez Sanabria.
Sanabria explained that after maintaining communication with the judicial authorities, the La Picota prison confirmed “that there are no pending requests.” “Mr. Salvatore Mancuso will be released,” he stressed.
“Peace manager”
Once released, Mancuso will travel to Medellin, where he will carry out “his duties as a peacemaker” under the mandate of Colombian President Gustavo Petro, a position questioned by the Justice and Peace Tribunal of Barranquilla, reported the newspaper “El Tiempo.”
According to the court order issued in March, Mancuso will not be able to move freely through several departments such as Córdoba, Bolívar, Sucre and municipalities of Urabá, where he carried out his criminal activity as head of the AUC.
The judge in charge of enforcing sentences at the Justice and Peace Court ratified the order of release granted on March 4 by the judge of Enforcement of Sentences of the Justice and Peace Chamber of Bogotá, Luz Amparo Zamora, thus contradicting the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP), which denied up to two requests for his release.
Mancuso, who served as a “link” between armed groups and state forces between 1989 and 2004, arrived in Colombia from the United States –where he was serving a prison sentence for drug trafficking–, after accepting the position of peace broker in exchange for collaborating with the authorities.
Known as “Triple Zero” during his armed past, Mancuso was sentenced to 40 years in prison for the El Aro massacre, but did not serve his sentence.
Source: With information from Europa Press