Colombia’s Supreme Court ordered Thursday that the inquiry being carried out by Congress’ Accusations Committee to determine the role that former President Alvaro Uribe played in the DAS wiretapping scandal be made public.
The Criminal Chamber of the High Court upheld on appeal filed by a group of lawyers on November 28, 2010, which sought to make the process public, reported Caracol Radio.
The decision was based on article 426 of the Criminal Procedure Code which states: “When referring to the President of the Republic or whomever is in lieu thereof, the record will be public, similar to the deliberations of the committee of inquiry and allegations, and the plenary of the House.”
The Bogota Superior Criminal Court ruled in January 2011 that the trial had to be public with the Accusations Committee agreeing it would do so in February, however, the decision required the final approval of the Supreme Court after a group conducting investigations requested it be kept out of the public domain.
Formal investigations into Uribe’s role in the DAS wiretapping scandal were opened by Congress in October last year. The former president is being investigated by the Committee for his alleged role in the wiretapping of supreme court judges, human rights organizations, politicians and journalists. Several of the former president’s closest aides and former directors of the state intelligence agency DAS are implicated in the scandal and currently being investigated by the Prosecutor General’s Office.
Among those to be called to testify against the former president are journalist Daniel Coronell, former Senator Piedad Cordoba and former presidential candidate, Gustavo Petro.
