The nation’s Attorney General, Margarita Cabello, referred again this Monday to the dispute raised with President Gustavo Petro, following the sanctions and disciplinary investigations of the public ministry against the congressmen of the historic treaty, the government coalition.
Cabello assured this Monday that there is no bias in the Attorney General’s Office’s disciplinary decisions against members of the pact.
“Every time the attorney general issues a decision, it is said that it is partisan and it is persecuting the political group that governs today. Cabello said during her speech at the Governors’ Summit for National Security , “I can get lists to show them that there are more files and acquittals than there are openings, charges and sanctions.”
The allegations against the attorney general’s office and its actions arose after the suspension was announced for eight months, and first by Senator Alex Flórez of the historic settlement, who starred in an embarrassing episode last year in Cartagena. When, in a highly inebriated state, he insulted three police officers, calling them murderers for a crime they did not commit.
Later, another senator from the historic treaty, Wilson Arias, was summoned to a disciplinary trial by the Attorney General’s office for allegedly assaulting a group of police officers in Cali.
Faced with the process against Senator Flórez, the prosecutor assured that any prejudice would be impossible, as the initial hearings, charges and trial were public and, according to him, many citizens have sought leniency in the sanction application.
“We act according to the law, which has been my strategy throughout my 35-year career in the judicial branch, which prepares me to be completely objective,” the lawyer said.
Given the measures against the congressmen, President Petro stated that the lawyer’s position was contrary to a ruling by the IACHR Court.
“The problem is a prosecutor who, bypassing the IACHR’s decision on my case, the law and the constitution, opens procedures to suspend Congressmen elected by historic agreement and thus changes the correlation of forces and popular representation (sic) is”, Peter wrote.
Then, the President raised the tone of the discussion by telling the official “not to do things he doesn’t have to do”.
“You are not a lawyer, a force independent of administrative bodies. You are not criminal justice. Do not attribute actions that do not belong to you. You are prohibited from suspending political rights. That’s our constitution, that’s American tradition.” Respect him (sic)”, wrote the President on his Twitter account.
In addition to criticizing the president, the historic treaty bench announced in a letter last week that it would request the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the IACHR, for precautionary measures to protect their political rights.
In the letter he assured that the attorney general’s office had assumed powers “in open violation of the repeated sentences of the jurisprudence of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the Council of State.”
The Pact directly criticized Cabello: “The person who presides over the Attorney General’s office, Dr. Margarita Cabello, former Minister of Justice in the government of Ivan Duque, does not guarantee the right of the Congressmen of the government’s bench to defend is acting, more as the head of a public ministry than as a member of the opposition,” he concluded.
