A lawyer for the Bogota Urban Development Institute (IDU), who is set to be a key witness against suspended Bogota Mayor Samuel Moreno, has received death threats while awaiting trial in prison.
IDU lawyer Inocencio Melendez is being held on corruption charges in connection to the public works scandal involving the former mayor and his brother Ivan Moreno, a former senator. Colombian media report that Melendez has been threatened repeatedly while being incarcerated in the notoriously corrupt La Picota Prison in Bogota.
Colombia’s national prison authority (INPEC) authorized the transfer of Melendez on Wednesday to a holding cell in the Department of Administrative Security (DAS), Colombia’s security and intelligence agency.
The lawyer recently accused both Moreno brothers of being complicit in the scandal. Melendez was banned from holding public office for 17 years for his own involvement in the corruption.
