PARA-POLITICAL LEGAL FRAMEWORK NOT ON LEGISLATIVE

C O N F I D E N T I A L BOGOTA 004471 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/20/2017 TAGS: KJUS PGOV PINR PREL PTER CO SUBJECT: PARA-POLITICAL LEGAL FRAMEWORK NOT ON LEGISLATIVE FAST TRACK Classified By: Political Counselor John S. Creamer. Reasons: 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) Presidential Legal Advisor Mauricio Gonzalez told polcouns June 15 the GOC proposal to provide for reduced, alternative sentences for politicians, front men (testaferros),ranchers, and others who were linked to the paramilitaries but were not United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) members nor involved in atrocities is not on a legislative fast track. The GOC has yet to decide if it will introduce legislation in the next Congressional session, which starts on July 20, but Gonzalez continues to work on a possible bill. ¶2. (C) Gonzalez said Uribe has made clear he is not looking for an amnesty; he wants a bill that would provide for reduced sentences (3-5 years) conditioned on reparations and full confessions. Individuals who received the reduced sentences would be required to serve some jail time and would be subject to a lifetime ban from participating in politics. Gonzalez said if the bill went forward, it would introduce proportionality between the sentences served by paramilitary collaborators and the time served by paramilitary leaders guilty of atrocities. He said it would be unjust for an individual who helped the paramilitaries under duress to serve more time than an individual guilty of multiple massacres. ¶3. (C) Meanwhile, lawyers for congressmen implicated in the parapolitical scandal are soliciting legislative support for a bill to reclassify the conspiracy charges facing their clients ("concierto a delinquir") as a political crime, which would make them eligible for pardons and would preserve their political careers. Gonzalez said Justice and Interior Minister Carlos Holguin had blocked effort to introduce an amendment to that effect in the legislative session that ended on June 20. Gonzalez told polcouns Uribe will not support this approach and will not pardon congressmen involved in the parapolitical scandal. Drucker