Ruling: the Prosecutor’s Office is sentenced to compensate Gabriel Arango Bacci – Investigative Unit

Due to the unjust deprivation of liberty of Admiral Gabriel Ernesto Arango Bacci, the Council of State has just condemned the Nation and the Prosecutor’s Office.

This was established by EL TIEMPO after hearing, exclusively, the ruling that also protects the family of the officer, now retired, who was held for 18 months in an alleged process for alleged links with drug trafficking.

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The Prosecutor’s Office called him to an investigation, on August 24, 2007, in an investigation for illicit enrichment and alleged links with drug traffickers.

(You may be interested: They find a mafia cove in a luxurious house in Cali with $ 8.7 billion) The officer was accused of alleged violations of confidential information such as navigation charts, which were reportedly supplied to traffickers. The scandal led to the officer being removed from active duty at the discretion of the government. His last position within the ranks of the Navy was as director of Cotecmar, the naval shipyard located in the capital of Bolívar.

His lawyer, Jaime Granados, requested that the Nation and the Public Prosecutor’s Office be declared administratively responsible for the material and moral damages caused to the plaintiffs, as a consequence of the unjust deprivation of liberty, from June 19, 2008 to June 3 December 2009, for acts that he did not commit, as later determined by the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice, in a ruling of December 3, 2009.

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In 2014, a judgment of first instance had been delivered that denied the claims of the defense of the Arango family, but this was appealed and the third section, sub section B, of the Council of State, has just ruled in favor of Arango Bacci and his family.

How much should they pay you?

With moral damages, loss of earnings and reparation, the sum amounts to about 700 million pesos which, for the defense, more than the amount, is a precedent for justice for keeping people deprived of liberty without judicial support.

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In addition, the Prosecutor’s Office will have to ask Arango Bacci and his family for public apologies.

“By way of non-pecuniary reparation of the rights to good name and
human dignity, the Nation-Prosecutor’s Office, through a personal letter addressed to Mr. Gabriel Ernesto Arango Bacci, will offer to apologize for the unjust detention to which he was subjected, “the ruling reads.

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And he adds that the entity must coordinate with the plaintiff whether it is sufficient for the document to be delivered personally to him or whether, in addition, it must be published on the entity’s communication and dissemination platforms. This measure must be fulfilled within the month following the execution of the order.

Initially, both the defense of the Nation and the Prosecutor’s Office opposed the claims of the lawsuit.

The argument is that the value of the moral damages and damage to the life of the relationship requested in the lawsuit exceeds the amounts indicated by the
jurisprudence.

In addition, they pointed out that although Arango Bacci was acquitted, he does not delegitimize the imposition of preventive detention, “since it was in accordance with the legal system.” And they added that the criminal investigation originated based on
the reports and documents delivered by public entities, as well as the
testimonies given by CTI and DAS officials.

The Council of State adjusted the amounts but dismissed the arguments of the Prosecutor’s Office.

INVESTIGATIVE UNIT
[email protected]@UinvestigativaET