The Supreme Court of Justice upheld the 24-year prison sentence handed down by the court against Alberto Santofimio Botero, a former senator who allegedly participated in the assassination of Luis Carlos Galán Sarmiento.
The Criminal Chamber of the judicial entity did not admit an extraordinary appeal for review that the defense sought to be studied and examined, in such a way that the sentence was reduced or even annulled.
The mentioned resource was based on the existence of an alleged evidence that deserved to go through a meticulous verification, however, after being analyzed it was decided that it was not admitted in such a way that the sentence will remain in force.
That evidence was presented by Santofimio’s lawyer, Jairo Bazurto, who intended to reopen the case in February 2022, eleven years after the sentence was issued against the 81-year-old Ibaguereño.
“He did not present any new evidence, but a dense writing of opinions, mostly expressed in the media after the trial,” says the Supreme Court ruling.
The defense maintained that John Jairo Velásquez Vásquez, head of Pablo Escobar’s hit men and one of the most dangerous men in the extinct Medellín cartel, lied after incriminating Santofimio in the assassination and later retracted in a statement delivered to the Truth Commission .
After this, from the high court they told the lawyer Bazurto that that retraction cannot be constituted as new evidence in a case of this magnitude and therefore does not meet the requirements to promote a review action.
“The presumption of success and legality of the sentence cannot be ignored with simple assumptions or changes in the criteria of some of the witnesses,” the statement reads.
In the same way, the defense filed another argument in which it was pointed out that the accusation for the murder of Galán was made in Justice and Peace against the Henry Gonzalo Pérez bloc of the Self-Defense Forces of Magdalena Medio.
Along with the aforementioned accusation, the declaration of that attack as a crime against humanity by the Council of State would be sufficient evidence to demonstrate that the former senator had no relationship with the crime, noted Bazurto.
Faced with this, the Supreme Court stated that the foregoing clearly demonstrates that “the corresponding processes are being carried out to establish the responsibility of the other people who participated in the homicide of Luis Carlos Galán Sarmiento, who became aware of within the process, but they were not individualized”.
The opinion of the high court concluded that none of the actions presented by the defense could be inferred as a “demonstration that Santofimio Botero did not determine Pablo Escobar Gaviria to kill Luis Carlos Galán Sarmiento.”
It is valid to clarify that this case initially came to the office of magistrate Diego Corredor, declared barred, for which reason it was assigned to Luis Antonio Hernández, who assumed responsibility for the ruling that became official on the morning of this Wednesday, May 17, 2023.
The penalty to which the ex-politician was subjected was based on being accused of being a co-author for terrorist purposes against Luis Carlos Galán Sarmiento, Santiago Cuervo Jiménez and Julio César Peñaloza Sánchez.
The events occurred on August 18, 1989 in Soacha, where the then presidential candidate was assassinated on the express orders of Pablo Escobar and the Medellín Cartel.
Currently, Alberto Santofimio Botero enjoys full freedom after having served three fifths of his sentence in 2020, the year in which he was released, also alluding to health problems in the midst of the covid-19 pandemic. with Infobae