“We witnessed an inexplicable act,” Duque said after learning of the sentence. Photo EFE / Carlos Ortega
The president of Colombia, Iván Duque, was involved this Saturday in a unusual and unprecedented decision of Justice from that country, which ordered his house arrest for five days. The sanction was imposed because he allegedly ignored a 2020 ruling, in which he was ordered to protect Los Nevados National Natural Park.
The president was surprised by this resolution, to which called “unconstitutional”. In Colombia, the president enjoys jurisdiction that prevents him from being detained and only Congress can withdraw it, so his arrest would not be effective.
“Today we have seen an inexplicable actbecause it wants to go through the constitutional jurisdiction, where the arrest of the President of the Republic is presumed to be ordered for not respecting that sentence, “Duque, from Montería, said according to its web edition. The spectator.
Justice accused Duque of failing to protect Los Nevados National Natural Park. Photo EFE / Ricardo Maldonado Rozo
The Colombian Minister of Justice, Wilson Ruiz, assured in an official statement that the decision of the Superior Court of the judicial district of Ibagué is not final because it must first obtain “the judicial degree of consultation before the Supreme Court of Justice”.
For the head of the justice portfolio, the court “is not aware of its powers” ordering a sanction of this type against the head of state “whose constitutional jurisdiction has not been taken into consideration in clear violation of the law”.
According to Justice, Duque did not protect the Los Nevados National Natural Park, declared a special subject of rights for its protection, recovery and conservation. The ruling indicates that the legal representation of the natural park is the responsibility of the president as head of state.
“As President of the Republic and with my officials we have worked to respect the protection of Los Nevados Park … that sentence is more than satisfied and relationships are” Duque said in his defense in a public act from the north of the country.
The court, on the other hand, asked the president to designate a special group of the armed forces or the national police to “accompany the protection of the park on an ongoing and permanent basis”.
In addition to house arrest, the court ordered a fine of nearly $ 4,000 “unless compliance with the order deemed not executed is proven in advance.”
Los Nevados National Natural Park is a protected area since 1974 for the conservation of glaciers and a water reserve for the departments of Tolima, Risaralda, Caldas and Quindío.
Another sanctioned official
Paula Andrea Huertas Arcila, secretary of judicial representation and defense of the department of Quindío, was also hit by a justice sanction.
His punishment, like Duque’s, was five days of arrest and the payment of a fine equivalent to fifteen current legal monthly minimum wages.
As published The spectatorthe judge “indicated that this decision cannot be challenged, arranging for it to be immediately sent for consultation, together with all the pages that make up the file of the accident, to the Supreme Court of Justice’s Supreme Court of Cassation for Labor”.
With information from AP.
Source: Clarin
