Outspoken former Colombian Senator Piedad Cordoba announced over Twitter that she is taking her case to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights after the Constitutional Court upheld a 2010 ruling, banning her from holding public office for 18 years for allegedly colluding with rebel group FARC.
“I respect the ruling of the [Constitutional Court] even if I don’t share it, the country cannot be under control of the Inspector General,” said Cordoba over her Twitter feed following the ruling.
The announcement came after the Constitutional Court held that the 2010 investigation carried out by the Inspector General, Alejandro Ordoñez, did not overreach by banning the former senator from holding office.
MORE: Colombia’s constitutional court holds political door shut for Piedad Cordoba
The Court found that the Constitution of Colombia does give the Inspector General the power to ban a citizen from running for office.
In 2008, an air raid by Colombia’s Air Force killed FARC commander “Raul Reyes.” After the attack USBs and laptops were uncovered proving communications between Cordoba and Reyes. In 2010, Ordoñez convicted Cordoba as not only having ties to the FARC but also “aiding and promoting illegal armed groups.”
The soon to be ex-senator claimed that the communications were always in the name of peace. The evidence was eventually thrown out due to suspicion of being obtained illegally, however the State Council and now the Constitutional Court still upheld the ruling.
Colombia’s Supreme Court is still conducting a criminal investigation into the former senator’s ties to the rebel group.
The Inter-American Court on Human Rights is an autonomous judicial institution based in San Jose, Costa Rica, which according to its website, exists to “safeguards the essential rights of man in the American continent.”
