COLOMBIA: A COLOMBIAN JUDGE HAS ORDERED THE RELEASE FROM PRISON OF A FORMER CALI COCAINE CARTEL BOSS GILBERTO RODRIQUEZ

Record ID: 640682

  • Title: COLOMBIA: A COLOMBIAN JUDGE HAS ORDERED THE RELEASE FROM PRISON OF A FORMER CALI COCAINE CARTEL BOSS GILBERTO RODRIQUEZ
  • Date: 7th November 2002
  • Summary: (W5) COMBITA, COLOMBIA (NOVEMBER 7, 2002) (REUTERS) SLV JAIL WHERE GILBERTO RODRIGUEZ OREJUELA IS DETAINED SLV/SV OF SECURITY GUARDS IN FRONT OF THE JAIL (2 SHOTS) SV WARNING SIGN IN FRONT OF THE COMBITA JAIL
  • Embargoed: 22nd November 2002 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: TUNJA, COMBITA AND BOGOTA COLOMBIA
  • Country: Colombia
  • Topics: General,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAB6U82FZR7JTHCBPYJCOC9ZLG8
  • Story Text: A Colombian judge has ordered the release from prison
    of former Cali cocaine cartel boss Gilberto Rodriguez
    Orejuela.



    A Colombian judge on Thursday (November 7, 2002) ordered
    the release from prison of one of Colombia's most infamous drug
    lords, former Cali cocaine cartel boss Gilberto Rodriguez
    Orejuela, after serving less than half of a 17-year sentence
    cut short for good behaviour.

    Judge Luz Angela Moncada ordered Rodriguez Orejuela's
    immediate release from the maximum security Combita prison,
    granting a habeas corpus request that overrides legal efforts
    by President Alvaro Uribe to keep the drug lord behind bars.

    "The dispatch of copies is done so that the conduct of any
    functionary can be investigated regarding the illegal
    privation of liberty of Orejuela" said Uriel Coconuo,
    Secretary of the Tunja Court, "from the moment that the judge
    in question pronounced the sentence until the moment that the
    judge pronounced habeaus corpus."
    The release of Rodriguez Orejuela, 63, will anger the
    Colombian government, which considers the 1995 capture of him
    and his brother Miguel as one the as one of the biggest
    triumphs in the U.S.-backed war on drugs.

    Once known as the Chess Player for his ability to
    outmanoeuvre authorities, Gilberto helped rule an underground
    cocaine empire thought to have amassed him billions of dollars
    in personal wealth throughout the 1990s.

    He was found hiding in a closet in his hometown of Cali in
    1995 after an exhaustive police manhunt, which later also
    nabbed his brother. Miguel was also due to be released early,
    but in a separate case this week a court sentenced him to
    another four years in prison, for bribing a judge.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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