The Sectional Council of the Antioquia Judiciary has requested Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos be investigated for putting undue pressure on judges to revoke the house arrest of drug gan leader Alirio de Jesus Rendon alias “El Cebollero.”
The Sectional Council filed papers with the Accusation Commission of the House of Representatives, the Inspector General’s Office and the Prosecutor General’s Office so that the president as well as Justice Minister Juan Carlos Esguerra and Interior Minister German Vargas Lleras be investigated, criminally and disciplinary.
Furthermore the Disciplinary Chamber requested that ex-mayor of Medellin Alonso Salazar and the director of Inpec, Colombia’s prison authority, General Gustavo Adolfo Ricaurte also be investigated for allegedly committing the same offense through their public declarations.
Judge Humberto Navales removed Cebollero from a high-security prison and placed him under house arrest based on medical report that he had a severe heart condition in August 2011. He had served two thirds of his 50-month sentence.
The head of state was highly critical of this decision saying “If you have health problems, then you are sent to a hospital, but not to a house where you can continue committing crimes, as we know is done.”
Judicial authorities investigated Judge Navales and subsequently suspended him from duty for three months.
El Cebellero is the convicted leader of Medellin’s Oficina de Envigado and is reportedly responsible for carrying out much of the money laundering for the drug gang, though he insisted was just a successful onion seller.
