Judge ordered Revista Semana to erase recordings of key witness in process against Álvaro Uribe Vélez

The ruling issued by the Bogotá circuit judge, Carlos Carreño, obliges a media outlet to unpublish and eliminate the program “Exclusive! The conversations of the witness Monsalve with his family”, Broadcast digitally and openly by Semana Magazine on the day August 30, 2020. In the same document, in addition, the judge requests the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation to investigate the journalists Vicky davila Y Jairo Fidel Lozano for an alleged violation of the summary reservation. These journalists conducted the investigation that is reported in Judge Carreño’s ruling.

Regarding the interceptions that the magazine used as support for its investigation, the judge specified that “Its use is not allowed, except its disclosure in various matters of criminal proceedings”. He also stressed that the rights that protect journalists “do not empower the informant to make use of evidence or evidence that is reserved and to replicate them”. With respect to these same rights, it maintains that the actions of Dávila and Lozano related to the material “revealed information that not even the investigators of the case can make public”.

The magazine announced that it complies, but does not share the judge’s sentence. In a statement published in its evening edition, it states that “will resort to all legal resources to avoid that through judicial decisions restrictions are imposed on the exercise of freedom of the press”.

Subsequently, the magazine explained the why and how of the use of the material, central object of the court ruling: “Within the disclosure of Álvaro Uribe’s file, SEMANA published complete procedural pieces of all the parts of the process, among these the legal interceptions of some members of the family of the convicted kidnapping and homicide, Juan Guillermo Monsalve, a witness in the former’s process. President“And stated that”All the published recordings were related to the case under investigation, today one of the most important judicial processes at the national level.”.

Semana considers that the judge’s decision “puts at serious risk constitutional guarantees essential for the exercise of freedom of expression, such as the protection of sources”. It also underlines that this decision “goes against investigative journalism and against the right of citizens to be well and widely informed about this case of historical significance that involves former president Álvaro Uribe.”

The case of the former senator and former president of the republic Álvaro Uribe Vélez for witness tampering is one of the most important judicial processes in the recent history of Colombia. Uribe Vélez, who is in house arrest, has appealed to justice for his freedom, this request being studied by the Supreme Court of Justice, a body that will determine its ruling in the next hours of October 8, 2020.

While this is happening, Uribe has not stopped influencing public opinion through statements on his Twitter account, with 5 million followers. After his arrest in August, Semana published audio materials with the voices of Monsalve and his circle of associates. This is one of the key witnesses for the Court to proceed to request the capture of Uribe. The Bogotá judge’s ruling would force the magazine to unpublish all the material from its platforms, in addition to requesting that the prosecution open an investigation against the journalists who released the transcripts of the witness and his family. It is expected in the next few hours that Semana will initiate legal actions to reply against the ruling.

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