Judicial Editorial
On the afternoon of Saturday, January 27, Rubén Darío Peralta became famous due to a police deployment that culminated in his capture for an alleged theft in the city center. However, the judge in charge declared the arrest illegal, arguing alleged irregularities and abuse of force by the agents.
What happened?
The events occurred around 2:30 in the afternoon, when the police authorities were carrying out patrol work in the area on 14th Street and 19th Street. A citizen alerted the police, pointing out Rubén Darío as an alleged thief who was traveling on a motorcycle. The uniformed officers left after him, but when they gave him the stop sign, Peralta ignored him and accelerated the motorcycle.
In the San Nicolás neighborhood, they managed to intercept him, Rubén Darío got out of the vehicle and tried to flee on foot, resisting capture. During the struggle, he fell to the ground, hitting his head and suffering an injury. Despite the intervention of more patrols, no compromising elements were found during the personal search.
Illegal to capture
In a forceful intervention, lawyer Mauricio Nieto Echeverry requested the illegality of the capture of his client, Rubén Darío Peralta, who was detained in the middle of a police deployment last Saturday. The lawyer presented as evidence a set of photographs and a video, widely disseminated on social networks, which, according to him, demonstrates an alleged abuse of force by the authorities.
Nieto argued that his client did not offer any resistance, but, on the contrary, was subjected to beatings and kicks by six police officers. The video in question, according to the lawyer, contradicts the official version that Peralta resisted and hit his head when he fell. In addition, he accused the officers of using excessive force, going so far as to claim that they were the ones who caused the head injury by hitting his client against the pavement.
«There must be respect for human dignity. It is clearly seen in the images how the agents subdue my client, beat him, kick his head, and even point a firearm at him. He was more than reduced to more than 8 police officers, which demonstrates an abuse of law and excessive force on the part of the captors,” declared the lawyer.
Regarding the decision of the Second Promiscuous Municipal Criminal Court of Belén de Umbría, it stated that the rights of Rubén Darío Peralta were violated. The two-hour period between the arrest at 2:30 pm and the presentation to the prosecutor’s office at 4:30 pm was questioned, with no report detailing what happened during that time. The judge expressed his agreement with the defense, alleging that the detainee did not resist and that there was excess and abuse in the capture.
Given this position, the judge declared the capture illegal and ordered the immediate release of Rubén Darío Peralta. The Prosecutor’s Office, for its part, has ordered copies of the police actions to be certified to investigate all the agents involved in the capture process.
Appeal
The Prosecutor’s Office requested to charge the crime of prisoner escape. This request arises as a result of the information registered on the INPEC page, which indicates that Peralta had house arrest in the municipality of Popayán, granted by Court 12 with the Guarantee Control Function Popayán, Cauca, on December 12.
However, the judge refused to carry it out, arguing the illegality of the capture. The prosecution argued that the declared illegality refers to the capture itself, not to the house arrest that was already in force and indicated that it is not up to it to revoke the measure and that the corresponding reports must be sent to INPEC.
Given
It should be noted that the motorcycle on which Rubén Darío was supposedly traveling was not left at the disposal of the Attorney General’s Office.