Human rights group here to push for spy chief deportation

PARIS –June 12 – A DELEGATION of the International Federation of Human Rights FIDH arrived in Panama today to request expedited extradition or deportation of Maria del Pilar Hurtado to Colombia.

"There is an imminent risk that the former Director of the Intelligence Department of Colombia (DAS) will flee Panama, to escape Colombian justice. For this reason we traveled to Panama to remind the authorities that it is essential that María del Pilar Hurtado, is quickly deported or extradited to Colombia," said Luis Guillermo Pérez, member of the FIDH delegation and advocate for victims of the DAS in Colombia .

The aim of the FIDH mission is to explain to the authorities the importance of a quick deportation or extradition of Maria del Pilar Hurtado, the situation of judicial proceedings against them and to remind them of the illegal activities of the DAS.
On June 10, 2014, the Supreme Court of Colombia decided to reiterate the request for extradition from Panama of the former director of the DAS of Colombia, accused by Colombian justice of aggravated conspiracy and other crimes confessed by DAS officials who were under her command.
The decision came days after the announcement by the press on May 29, the Panama Supreme Court declaration of unconstitutionality of the President Ricardo Martinelli decree that has granted her political asylum since November 2010.
In a release, The FIDH expresses its concern about the fact that since then the Supreme Court of Panama has not formalized that decision.