In the case of Nicolás Petro, the judge’s decision means that the defendant will go free after the request of the Attorney General of the Nation that he be placed in jail is rejected, although together with the investigations related to his father they have shocked the political life of the country.
Nicolás Petro was captured at dawn last Saturday in Barranquilla, in the north of Colombia, and this week the two crimes were charged to him by the judicial authority.
The Attorney General’s Office said it had presented sufficient elements to demonstrate that the son of the head of state received money from Samuel Santander Lopesierra, convicted and extradited to the United States, and from Gabriel Hilsaca, son of Alfonso the ‘Turco’ Hilsaca. The latter prosecuted for murder and conspiracy to commit a crime.
According to the Attorney General’s Office, Nicolás Petro illegally increased his assets with the entry of these resources of dubious origin.
President Petro insisted on Friday that while investigations are underway that his campaign received money of dubious origin, he will continue with his government activities.
The president said that the lawyer Mauricio Pava Lugo —who currently works as an auxiliary judge of the Supreme Court of Justice of Colombia— will represent him in the judicial processes that are developed for these accusations.
One day after his son declared before the Colombian authorities that his father’s 2022 presidential campaign received the aforementioned resources, the president said in a statement that the judges will determine what is appropriate.
“I receive with pain, on a personal level, the information about alleged irregularities in the development of the presidential campaign,” added Petro, who has denied having known of any illegality.
Although at first the son of the head of state did not accept the charges, two hours later he announced his collaboration with justice, which could grant him benefits such as a reduction in half of the corresponding sentence.
In the midst of this collaboration, Nicolás Petro told the Attorney General’s Office that part of the dark money he received and with which he illegally increased his assets would have reached his father’s presidential campaign in 2022.
According to the prosecutor in charge of the case, Mario Andrés Burgos, the president’s son assured that he would deliver audios and documents that would corroborate that part of the resources that were delivered to him ended up financing his father’s candidacy.
Given this level of collaboration with justice, the Attorney General’s Office requested that Nicolás Petro be granted the benefit of the house by jail, which was denied on Friday night by judge 74 with function of control of guarantees .
According to the gown, the judicial authority did not duly support his request to grant the benefit to the son of the head of state, so the judge made the decision to release him and impose some restrictions on him.
Among these is that you cannot leave the country or participate in political activities. Nicolás Petro is a deputy of the Departmental Assembly of the Atlantic, department in the north of Colombia where he lives, but he announced his intention to renounce that dignity.
It is foreseeable that in the next few days, the Attorney General’s Office will reveal whether there are new implicates and new investigations based on the evidence provided by the son of President Petro, information that generated a harsh political upheaval in Colombia this week.
The president also assured on Friday that “no one can be above the law and that justice must be applied impartially.” All this, according to President Petro, respecting due process and granting all the guarantees of the case.
Petro emphasized that, in the meantime, he will “resolutely” continue with the presidential agenda and that “the government will continue its task without distractions” vis-à-vis the Colombians.
FOUNTAIN: Associated Press
