A hearing judge released five involved in the attack on the General Santander cadet school, due to expiration of terms.
The judge released Andrés Felipe Oviedo Espinel, alias ‘Jesús’; Angie Lorena Solano Cortés, aka ‘Maco’; Carlos Arturo Marin, alias ‘Marin’; Jessica Catherine Barrientos, aka ‘Jessica’ and Miguel Antonio Castillo, aka ‘Toño’.
Those involved in the car bomb attack on January 17, 2019 against the cadet school, which left 22 cadets dead, including Andrés David Fuentes Yepes, 24, a native and resident of Valledupar. In addition there were 89 wounded.
The defense argument to support his request for release is that 670 days have elapsed without being brought to trial.
The judge who issued the measure clarified that “500 days are enough to reach the maximum judgment in this case, in which it has been seen that the inquisitive institution presents an indictment without being prepared to present all the probative material and thus guarantee the right to defense and due process.
The five involved had been arrested in 2020, as presumed guilty of planning and carrying out the attack, for which the ELN claimed responsibility.
According to the Prosecutor’s Office, alias “Jesús” would have been the one who received the order from the high command of the armed group in order to plan the attack. While the others captured would have been responsible for the creation of a dairy company, which was a front used as a money launderer for the ELN, money that would have been used to carry out the car bomb.