Alberto Santofimio Botero

Alberto Santofimio Botero (born June 17, 1942 ) is a Colombian politician. From 1974 to 1975 he was Minister of Justice in his country and then President of the House of Representatives until 1978 . In 2011, the Colombian Supreme Court sentenced him to 24 years in prison. According to the court, he had commissioned Luis Carlos Galán's murder in August 1989.

Life

Career

Santofimio was elected to the House of Representatives very early. From August 7, 1974 to July 10, 1975 he was Minister of Justice. From 1975 to 1978 he was President of the House of Representatives. He tried twice to run as a presidential candidate from the Liberal Party . In 1989 he was defeated by Luis Carlos Galán. While Santofimio appeared in public with Pablo Escobar , traveled abroad with him and opposed the extradition of drug traffickers to the United States , Galán stood for a tough line on the subject of drug trafficking.

Murder of Luis Carlos Galán

On August 18, 1989, Luis Carlos Galán was shot dead by contract killers . According to the assassin Jhon Jairo Velásquez , the murder of Santofimio and Pablo Escobar was ordered. The first judge sentenced Santofimio in 2007 to 24 years in prison. A year later, an appeals court overturned the verdict for lack of evidence. On August 31, 2011, the Supreme Court again upheld the first judgment. Thus Santofimio was the first prominent Colombian politician to be validly convicted of a serious crime.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Ralf Leonhard: Ex-Justice Minister has to be arrested again. In: the daily newspaper . September 1, 2011, accessed September 1, 2011 .