Recently incarcerated former Agriculture Minister Andres Felipe Arias will be transferred to a military detention center amid concerns for his safety, various media reported Wednesday.
Judicial authorities and Colombia’s prison authority INPEC have decided that Arias will spend the remainder of his trial for his alleged part in an agriculture subsidy scandal at a military facility in Canton Norte in Bogota.
Prosecutor General Viviane Morales confirmed that after being ordered to spend the duration of his trial in La Picota prison, Arias requested that he be transferred for fear of his life.
He was also relocated due to concerns about him interacting with other people involved in the scandal who are also being incarcerated at La Picota, newspaper El Espectador reported. The minister was accused Tuesday of obstruction of justice for visiting prisoners implicated in the scandal.
Arias was sent to prison Tuesday for his alleged role in the AIS scandal, in which the judge called him “preliminarily guilty.” The prosecution requested that he be detained, calling him a “danger to the community.”
