Huber Ballesteros denied release in latest hearing
News from Colombia | on: Monday, 22 February 2016
At a hearing on 19th February the imprisoned trade union leader Huber Ballesteros was denied a request for the withdrawal of the detention order against him. The hearing had initially been scheduled for 8th February but was delayed.
On rejecting the petition, the judge presiding repeated the argument of the prosecution that Huber Ballesteros is still a threat to society and could evade justice due to his “closeness to the FARC secretariat”.
Both the delay and the refusal to revoke the preventive detention order can be added to a long list of procedural irregularities and a lack of due process in Huber Ballesteros’ case. The defence have repeatedly tried to end his unlawful imprisonment. An application in December for his release based on the fact that the statute of limitations had expired was denied and in January a writ of habeas corpus was also rejected.
This also reveals once again the clear political motivations behind the prosecution of Ballesteros and the lack of guarantees for opposition leaders in Colombia. In the midst of the peace process, this raises huge concerns about the criminalization of trade union and civil society leaders, who are considered a “threat to society”
