Colombia’s Prosecutor General Viviane Morales has said that 29 FARC-politics investigations are at risk by the recent Supreme Court ruling that the computer files seized in the deadly raid on FARC leader “Raul Reyes”‘ camp are inadmissible in court.
The files were dismissed on May 18 by the Supreme Court during the trial of former socialist congressman Wilson Borja, who had been charged of collaborating with the FARC based on material found on the computers.
The files were declared inadmissible because the collection of the evidence did not follow the necessary procedures to be submitted in the Colombian legal system.
“Now comes an intense legal debate over the evidence of Raul Reyes,” Morales told Caracol Radio.
Some 29 cases linking politicians to the FARC have been based on the files found on the computers, with the evidence already having been submitted in five judicial proceedings.
The prosecutor general expressed her concern that in many of the cases it is not possible to redo the evidence as they are already at the trial stage.
“About a year ago the Court was not as emphatic, it said that the evidence is insufficient but not illegal,” she added.
The Supreme Court has come in for criticism over its decision, primarily from former President Alvaro Uribe, although various government have also called for a review given that the authenticity of the files is a separate issue from the legal admissibility.
The president of the Supreme Court, Camilo Tarquin, insisted that the ruling only refers to the specific case of Wilson Borja, although it is likely that the decision will have set a precedent for future cases.
