2023-08-05 10:31:00
A judge granted conditional release on Friday (4) to Nicolás Petro, son of Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who says he fears for his life amid the scandal over the alleged illegal election campaign financing.
“The request for the imposition of a security measure, but measures that do not deprive of liberty, for Mr. Nicolás Fernando Petro is accepted,” announced the judge in the case, Omar Beltrán, at the end of a long hearing.
Beltrán added that Nicolás Petro will not be able to leave the city of Barranquilla (north), where he lives, nor maintain contact with other people involved in the investigation for alleged money laundering and illicit enrichment.
The eldest son of the Colombian president was arrested on Saturday (29) of last week.
On Thursday, as part of a collaboration process with the Justice, he confessed to the alleged illegal financing of the campaign that took Gustavo Petro to the Presidency in 2022, including funds transferred by Samuel Santander Lopesierra, extradited for drug trafficking to the United States, where was imprisoned between 2003 and 2021.
He also claimed to have received money from a son of Alfonso “el Turco” Hilsaca, a businessman accused in the past of financing paramilitary groups and planning murders, and from other controversial businessmen.
Nicolás’ testimony to Justice shook Colombia’s first left-wing government. The president does not deny the accusations, but he distanced himself from his son and stated that he would never be an accomplice to crimes.
Lawyer David Teleki expressed concern for Nicolás Petro’s safety. “If he goes to jail, Your Honor, it won’t even last 24 hours,” Teleki said.
“He is a key witness to completely dismantle a corrupt structure that must be investigated and that must bring those responsible to justice,” he added.
“For this it is essential that Nicolás Petro, his voice, his words cannot be silenced (…) by pressure of any kind”, completed the lawyer, before stating that the client is a victim of “harassment” and “intimidation” .
The prosecution had requested house arrest for the 37-year-old politician. It is not yet clear whether Gustavo Petro has definitively broken off his relationship with his son.
In the last two days, the judge learned of more evidence presented by the Prosecutor’s Office, according to which Nicolás Petro and his ex-wife, Daysuris Vásquez, moved large sums of money.
In a list of those involved drawn up by investigators, the president does not appear, but the name of his wife and Nicolás’s stepmother, Verónica Alcocer, does.
In a statement, the president said he received “with pain the information about alleged irregularities in the development of the presidential campaign” and appointed a representative of the Supreme Court of Justice to represent him.
Parliament, where Petro lost the majority a few months ago, has started a “prior investigation stage”, according to the chairman of the Commission for Investigations and Prosecutions, Deputy Wadith Manzur.
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