Colombian judiciary protests over spying
June 10th, 2010 - 8:28 pm ICT by IANSBogota, June 10 (IANS/EFE) Some 25,000 judges, prosecutors and court employees took to the streets of Colombian cities following a scandal involving illegal spying.
The Asonal Judicial Union called the protest Wednesday a week after Bogota Judge Jenny Jimenez ordered the detention of a former government official implicated in a scandal involving illegal spying on magistrates, opposition political leaders, human rights defenders and journalists.
The protests paralyzed the courthouses for three hours Wednesday in the country’s main cities.
Mario Aranguren, former director of an anti-money-laundering unit in the finance ministry, was accused of handing over confidential reports on judges to the DAS intelligence service.
“It seems to us that this ignorance of the very structure of a democratic society, of a democratic state, shows once more the dictatorial and authoritarian nature of the current president,” union leader Fabio Hernandez told EFE.
–IANS/EFE
snb/dg
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Tags: authoritarian nature, bogota, confidential reports, courthouses, democratic society, democratic state, dg, fabio, finance ministry, government official, human rights defenders, intelligence service, judiciary, magistrates, political leaders, prosecutors, protests, scandal, snb, union leader