Former DAS boss may be acquitted of murder charges
Former DAS boss may be acquitted of murder charges
Wednesday, 11 January 2012 11:53
Aylish O'Driscoll
The former director of now defunct Colombian intelligence agency DAS may be acquitted of the murder charges he faces, reports Colombia's Radio Caracol.
Lawyers of former DAS director Miguel Maza Marquez -- on trial for his alleged involvement in several murders, including the 1989 assassination of Liberal presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galan Sarmiento -- have made an application to the Criminal Court to annul the criminal proceedings.
Colombia's Supreme Court will now have to make a decision on the application based on the evidence provided by Marquez' defense team.
If the case were to be annulled, it could spare Marquez a hefty jail term. Another former DAS director Jorge Noguera, who twice won his freedom on legal technicalities after being convicted of similar charges, was re-sentenced to 25 years in prison last September.
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/21470-former-das-boss-may-be-acquitted-of-murder-charges.html
Colombia is the third largest recipient of annual U.S. taxpayers' foreign aid gifts.