DAS officials arrested former Arauca Governor Julio Enrique Acosta Bernal on Monday on charges of conspiracy, aggravated homicide and links to paramilitary groups while in office, W Radio reports.
The arrest of Acosta is in relation to his alleged involvement in the murder of another Arauca official, Juan Alejandro Plazas Lemonaco, in 2007. Acosta is also thought to be tied to the murder of another 50 people after the former paramilitary leader Miguel Angel Mejia Munera alias “El Mellizo,” stated in early 2009 that Acosta had provided the paramilitary group in the area with a list of supposed FARC supporters to kill.
Acosta served as governor from 2004-2007 and was captured at a house in the capital
in Bogota where he was said to have been hiding for the past six months.
