Rodrigo Londoño and Julián Gallo will not appear before the Prosecutor’s Office for the assassination of Gómez Hurtado

This Wednesday, November 4, it was known that the head of the Farc party, Rodrigo Londoño and the senator of the same political community, Julián Gallo, they will not appear at the call of the Attorney General’s Office, which is following the investigation of the assassination of Álvaro Gómez Hurtado.

His decision comes a month after the members of the defunct guerilla agreed to have killed to the conservative politician, 25 years ago.

Diego Martínez and Camilo Fagua, attorneys for the former FARC commanders, expressed Londoño and Gallo’s refusal to the call, in a memorandum addressed to Elba Silva, the eighth prosecutor delegated to the Court in charge of the case.

The document known to El Tiempo says that “in the specific case, it is clear that both the Special Jurisdiction for Peace, as well as the Attorney General’s Office, seek to summon Messrs. Londoño and Gallo to the respective proceedings, in order to carry out the investigation of the same incident: the murder of Messrs. Álvaro Gómez Hurtado and José del Cristo Huertas Hastamorir ”.

According to the document, the declaration is intended to “Collect testimonies and evidence to find those responsible for the event that occurred in 1995”.

It also maintains that the call is in a clear violation of non bis in idem, (not to be punished twice for the same crime) since, according to the attorneys, “Messrs. Gallo and Londoño are having to appear for the same act in two different jurisdictions, which represents an open violation of the principle outlined ”.

The lawyers end by noting that both Gallo and Londoño are firm in their commitment to collaborate with the justice bodies, especially with the Special Jurisdiction for Peace; In addition, in the text they indicate that they recognized the JEP early.

The circumstances that led to the death of Mr. Álvaro Gómez Hurtado and his bodyguard José del Cristo Huertas Hastamorir, were recognized early by our principals before the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP), as long as the competition factors named in numeral 3 of the first section of this document

The text insists that the assassination is linked to the armed conflict, since it occurred within the framework of the confrontation and the critical political moments that the country was experiencing as a result of it. “

At the same time, President Iván Duque referred to the case, in an academic debate on “the consequences of the FARC’s statement regarding the assassination of Álvaro Gómez Hurtado”, at the Sergio Arboleda University.

At the time of his speech, the president questioned the confession of the defunct guerrilla of the assassination of Gómez Hurtado.

At first, Duque thanked former prosecutor Néstor Humberto Martínez, for “the declaration of a crime against humanity by Álvaro Gómez Hurtado, (…) which must arrive at the real truth, not the truth elaborated with purposes that today are quite doubtful ”.

That groups appear to claim such an assassination, but with indeterminate responsibilities, saying that this was thought over 30 years ago and that those who participated are no longer in the earthly world, it seems like a kind of operetta.

He insisted that those who take responsibility do not do it through letters but in court.

If responsibilities are awarded and there is a transitional territory, do not say so in letters or speeches but in court and given the seriousness of the oath, and at the same time continue to carry out investigations in the Prosecutor’s Office.

Finally, the Colombian president demanded that “all investigations on widely known hypotheses between drug trafficking criminal ties and other actors be exhausted, because what matters is the real truth.”

During the debate was also Mauricio Gómez Escobar, son of the Conservative leader. In the talk, the journalist also presented a recording from March 1995, in which Álvaro Gómez talks about the peace talks with the FARC guerrillas and in which “he is throwing some taunts at the Samper government for not stopping them.” .

Mauricio believes that this video proves that the FARC did not assassinate his father, since he was the only one who insisted on the dialogues.

It is proof that the FARC did not assassinate my father, who was the only person who was trying to talk to them. I don’t think that was a reason for the FARC to kill him.

He also questioned the time that has passed between his murder and the revelation of the extinct guerrilla group.

“The FARC do a revolutionary act par excellence, which is to assassinate the main enemy of their ideas, and are they doing this in order not to claim it? Not only did they not claim it, but they kept it for 25 years, “said Gómez Escobar during the talk.

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