Colombian Judge Jenny Jimenez, who was criticized by former President Alvaro Uribe for issuing an arrest warrant against a former government official, plans to seek protection from the U.N. after receiving death threats.
Jimenez told Caracol Radio that the letters stated that the threats were because she ordered the arrest of Mario Aranguren, former director of the government’s Financial Information and Analysis Unit (UIAF).
The judge said that despite reporting two months ago that she has received death threats and has been followed, she has not received any form of government protection.
“I told the national police, the prosecutor general and the judiciary about the threats and surveillance that I have suffered, but because there hasn’t been an attack on my physical wellbeing, it hasn’t been taken any further,” Jimenez said.
The judge said that written threats were sent from a Valledupar prison and warn her that if she doesn’t resign, her life and her family’s lives are in danger.
“The person that wrote the document said he was part of an organization and had been contracted to make an attempt on my life,” Jimenez said.
She added that the only support she has received has been a manual on self-protection given to her by the national police, and she will ask the UN to evaluate her case.
Uribe expressed outrage when Aranguren was arrested, labeling it as “unjust,” and accusing an unnamed “higher body” of pressuring a judge to order the arrest.
