Ex-Senator Piedad Cordoba did not show up to give her free version in the wiretapping scandal case on Thursday morning, while her defense lawyer demanded guarantees for victims in the case against ex-President Alvaro Uribe, newspaper El Espectador reported.
Cordoba’s failure to appear apparently followed recommendations from her defense lawyer, who said on Wednesday that the conditions in which she would have the opportunity to speak would be a “disrespect,” stating, “There are no guarantees for Dr. Piedad and this would be a circus and media show to which she should not submit herself.”
Cordoba’s defense lawyer, Luis Guillermo Perez, did show up to the proceedings, to request guarantees for victims of the wiretapping scandal and to demand that they be able to directly interrogate the ex-president in the Thursday afternoon proceedings regarding his role in the wiretapping scandal, which will be broadcast live.
“How can they judge the ex-president if they don’t have the records from the processes that for this same case are being studied in other tribunals?” asked defense lawyer Luis Guillermo Perez.
“It is necessary that the representatives have the necessary knowledge of what is proceeding in the criminal processes,” he added, stating that the defense does not want to have to refer the case to the International Criminal Court.
Uribe’s lawyer, meanwhile, said that Cordoba’s absence is negatively impacting the proceedings, stating that “This is affecting the good progression of the proceedings, in particular I am worried (…) that because other proceedings exist that don’t involve President Uribe what might happen there has to tie into a scenario that is completely outside of the natural justice that is this commission.”
The wiretapping scandal that occurred under the Uribe administration involved the illegal monitoring of telephone conversations and emails of political opponents of Uribe by the country’s security body (DAS), and has thus far implicated a number of high-ranking officials, including ex-DAS director Maria del Pilar Hurtado.
