Protected in the powers granted by the political Constitution of Colombia and in attention to legal interest of the Attorney Office in criminal policy the Attorney-General, Eduardo Montealegre Lynett, issued favorable concept, before the Justice Supreme Court, against the extradition request of seven people involved in DEA agent murder, James Terry Watson.
Among the legal arguments for which the Attorney General considered relevant to issue – for the first time – a concept about extradition, include that the prosecution is part of the extradition process from the capture of citizens required to their delivery to the requesting State or otherwise order their freedom, reason by which holds a procedural interest in the decision that the Justice Supreme Court may adopt.
Furthermore, in attention to the daily functions developed by the Attorney-General office in criminal policy, as well as its constant participation in the criminal proceedings, stated: “( it is reasonable intervention of this institution in this process in order to: 1) harmonize the constitutional obligations inherent to the criminal prosecution;” (2) Guide for this way, concrete actions of criminal policy; and (3) contribute the entrusted legally work to the H. Justice Supreme Court, when it considers it convenient “.
The faculty that the Prosecutor’s Office has to intervene in extradition process through a legal concept, as it is the case in reference, is specified by constitutional jurisprudence stating that “the Attorney´s Office as main executor of the criminal laws and criminal procedure has access to inside information about the difficulties and possibilities of application of certain penal institutions, have an overview about the criminal phenomenon […] and can identify unmet priorities and unnoticed needs of the criminal justice system”.
Based on the above legal argument the Attorney General, Eduardo Montealegre Lynett, asked the Supreme Court to issuing a favorable concept about extradition of Andrés Alvaro Oviedo García, Héctor Leonardo López, Julio Stiven García Ramírez, Edgar Javier Bello Murillo, Wilson Daniel Cesarman Bocachica, Ómar Fabián Valdés Gualtero and Edwin Gerardo Figueroa Sepúlveda, by the occurred events in Bogotá on June, 2013.
Although Watson Agent homicide occurred in Colombia and taking into account that Article 3 of the Prevention and Punishment of crimes Convention against Internationally Protected Persons, including Diplomatic Agents, confers to state jurisdiction in which the victim is natural, is, in the opinion of the Attorney General, the fundamental reason why in this case the extradition proceeds for the seven nationals to the United States.
Although between Colombia and the United States there is no extradition treaty, for the study case, this Convention is called to regulate the present extradition for the following reasons: 1) it is an instrument intended to protect people than to be officials or State agents afforred an specific status, as the case of the US citizen James Terry Watson, who was a DEA agent, 2) the instrument punishes crimes committed against these people protected which includes murder, a crime of which was victim Mr. Watson, and 3) the Convention has an express clause extradition treaty between the parties.
Secondly, it is said that article 35 of the Constitution politics of Colombia, which regulates the extradition in Colombia, does not prohibit the extradition of Colombians from birth for crimes committed in national territory. Although this prohibition existed in the original text of article, which was modified by the legislative act 01 of 1997, which left only two prohibitions: (i) when it comes to political offences; and (ii) for acts committed prior to the promulgation of this rule.
So, for the Attorney General there is no constitutional prohibition that prevents extraditing Colombians who attempted against life to DEA agent James Terry Watson.