Colombia’s police arrested a labor rights activist on Wednesday on renewed accusations she is part of rebel group FARC, according to a Prosecutor General’s press release.
Liliany Obando has been rearrested on charges of “aggravated rebellion,” and sentenced to 70 months in prison and a fine of $374,000.
Police say Obando has been a member of Colombia’s largest rebel group since 1996, and was responsible for upholding the rebel group’s international politics and image and maintaining ties with sympathetic and allied politicians and organizations.
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Obando, formerly director of the Farmer’s Union (FENGSUAGRO) and labor activist was initially arrested in 2008 for allegedly using her role in FENSUAGRO and the Department of International Relations to acquire financing and arms for the rebel group. She was also accused of being the lover of slain FARC commander Raul Reyes.
After spending over three years in jail, a judge ordered her release due to a prosecutorial failure, when it was found that an investigator had “opened and manipulated” information in her case.
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Foreign human rights organizations have always rejected Obando’s alleged FARC ties and considered her a political prisoner while in jail.
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