EL COLOMBIANO, February 24, 2023
(Translated by Eunice Gibson, CSN Volunteer Translator)
The JEP will evaluate whether Mancuso’s testimony is useful, and will start from there to determine the possibility of his being admitted to appear, using the concept of “materially incorporated into the Armed Forces, performing a military function”.
Salvatore Mancuso has one last chance to be admitted to the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP). The Special Tribunal opened the doors so that the man who was extradited could appear in its courtroom to relate, in a single hearing, his whole truth about the paramilitaries and the actions he carried out while he was the Commander of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC).
The Definition of Legal Situations Branch of the JEP has opened the door to a single hearing, and the former paramilitary will have 45 business days after receiving notification to respond to the JEP whether or not he is willing to make his contribution to the whole truth.
“The offer that Mancuso Gómez must provide to the Court has to include, among other things, the relationship of his contributions, effective and sufficient, of the complete truth about the paramilitaries’ criminal organization, its participants, its method of operation, ways that crimes were committed, and support he provided to armed agents of the Colombian government,” reads a communication from the JEP.
With this hearing, the JEP will attempt to get to know and understand the crimes and their perpetrators that to this day are not known to the legal system.
The doors of the JEP opened to Mancuso at this time so that he can provide his testimony in the context of “being a confessed paramilitary commander or leader materially incorporated into the Armed Forces, performing a military function”. The Special Tribunal has already refused his appearance as a responsible civilian third party.
The contributions to the whole truth by the confessed paramilitary will be about events that occurred between 1989 and 1997 and until 2004. Sources close to the case explained to EL COLOMBIANO that, in case Mancuso’s testimony in the “single hearing to obtain the truth” is held to be useful, the JEP will evaluate the possibility of eventual admission to the Special Court for the former para.
The ball is now in Mancuso’s court. He is the one who will determine whether he is accepted to the Special Jurisdiction for Peace or not.