Miguel Uribe (Image: Facebook)
A Bogota court sentenced the minor who assassinated Senator Miguel Uribe of the far-right Centro Democratico party to seven years in prison.
Because he is a minor, the 15-year-old assassin will not serve his sentence in an ordinary prison, but a detention center managed by family welfare institute ICBF.
The defense attorney of the Uribe family, Victor Mosquera, said that he would appeal the ruling, which convicted the minor for attempted homicide rather than aggravated homicide.
This is because the minor plead guilty to the attempted homicide charge before the far-right senator succumbed to his wounds and died on August 11.
Colombia’s juvenile justice system doesn’t allow revisions to criminal charges once the prosecution makes a formal accusation against a minor.
The prison sentence is close to the maximum penalty of eight years in prison that can be imposed on children and minors, who must be released from prison when they turn 21.
According to Mosquera, the way that Colombia’s juvenile justice system is set up “is incentivizing the recruitment of minors to commit serious crimes” because “criminal structures take advantage of this legal safeguard,” the attorney told newspaper El Espectador.
The assassin was associated with a street gang from western Bogota, which allegedly was hired to kill Uribe by an unknown third party.
Apart from the minor, police and prosecutors have arrested another five gang members, who allegedly were directly involved in the planning and execution of the assassination plot.
Investigations have since focused on trying to establish who ordered the assassination that plunged Colombia’s political elite in a crisis.
Prosecutors have been looking into the possible involvement of a drug trafficking organization called the “Junta del Narcotrafico” and associated guerrilla groups like the Segunda Marquetalia.
Members of Uribe’s political party have blamed the assassination on “hate speech” by President Gustavo Petro and leftist influencers on social media.
