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(CNN Spanish) - FARC dissident Seuxis Paucias Hernández Solarte, known as Jesús Santrich, was suspended as a congressman by the Procuraduría de Colmbia, after having rearmed with the guerrilla dissidents. But there is still a disciplinary process against him to stop being a congressman and lose his endowment.
On Monday, the Attorney General opened an investigation against Hernández Solarte and ordered his suspension as a representative to the Chamber. The Office of the Prosecutor investigates the alleged lack of disciplinary order that Santrich would have incurred in "encouraging or executing acts aimed at the formation or subsistence of armed groups outside the law," says a statement.
But the disciplinary sanction of the attorney general's office is a precautionary measure so that, among other things, he ceases to earn his salary.
"It is not properly a sanction yet because we have to advance a disciplinary process as a representative to the House that is," attorney Fernando Carrillo told the CNN in Spanish about the decision.
- READ: "Jesus Santrich" reappears in new video with FARC dissidents
"The only legal tool available to the Attorney General is the suspension as a precautionary measure because that suspension should be made by the corporation to which he belongs," Carrillo added. The suspension process must be advanced by the House of Representatives.
That is, Jesús Santrich is still a representative to the chamber suspended by the Attorney General's Office, Carrillo said.
The suspension must be carried out by the House of Representatives, “within a judicial process where you have the right to defense,” added Carrillo.
The Attorney General's Office asked the president of the House of Representatives, Carlos Cuenca, to immediately comply with the three-month suspension of Santrich.
Cuenca told reporters on Monday that as soon as he is notified of the decision by the Attorney General's Office, the measure will be "effective."
"We will abide by the decision of Mr. Santrich's congressional suspension and in addition to that we will make the decision to end the issuance of checks as a result of his salary," said the president of the Chamber. "This will be a decision that the board will make as soon as I have the providence that the Attorney General has just given."
Once I am notified of the decision by the @PGN_COL to suspend Jesus Santrich as Representative to the Chamber, I will make the measure effective. I share the outrage that this generates in Colombians. @CamaraColombia @PCambioRadical pic.twitter.com/gu8BC8Rrep
- Carlos Cuenca Chaux (@CuencaGuainia) September 3, 2019
Cuenca said that at the time of having Santrich suspended, his “congressional condition” will be suspended. That is, it will stop being a congressman.
- READ: The FARC dissidents are rearmed: who are the ones who took up arms again?
Your suspension is not yet final.
The disciplinary sanction is the first step in processing a process for loss of investiture against Santrich, according to Carrillo. The loss of investiture is decided by the State Council.
“[Santrich] has a condition of suspension as a representative to the House but to be suspended we definitely need a disciplinary procedure to be completed. The suspension is a precautionary measure, ”said Attorney Carrillo.
This Monday, the Attorney General's Office asked the State Council to decree the loss of investiture of the FARC dissident "taking into account his absence to 6 plenary sessions", according to evidence collected by that entity.
As the whereabouts of Santrich are unknown - which appeared last weekend in a video ratifying the armed struggle - the Attorney General's Office asked the State Council to appoint an ex officio lawyer to guarantee due process.
Once the request arrives, the State Council will have a term of no more than 20 business days to issue a judgment in the first instance.
Carrillo expects this sanction and loss of investment process to occur before the end of three months of the disciplinary suspension.
The president of the Chamber said that he knows “reserved information” of the Supreme Court of Justice about the Santrich process and that once he loses his investiture as a congressman, “the empty chair figure would automatically enter into force, that is, no A member of the FARC party can replace Santrich and the party would lose that seat.
- READ: Will the war return to Colombia? "The worst thing that happened is that a dissident group emerges," says monitoring group
How did Jesus Santrich become a congressman?
2018 Colombia lived the first elections without an armed conflict with the oldest guerrilla in the continent and saw how members of that group debuted at the polls after leaving their weapons on behalf of the peace agreements in Havana signed in 2016.
One of the points of these agreements was to guarantee 10 seats in the legislative body for the former guerrillas: 5 for the Senate and 5 for the Chamber. This despite the fact that the FARC party - which was created after the demobilization of the guerrillas - did not obtain enough votes to secure a seat in Congress.
Santrich was captured on April 9, 2018 on charges of drug trafficking and against him there is an extradition request issued by a court in New York, in the United States, which investigates him for the alleged conspiracy to send 10 tons of cocaine to that country, something that he and his lawyers have denied and his political party, FARC, has described as judicial assembly.
On May 15, the Special Jurisdiction for Peace determined that there was insufficient evidence to determine Santrich's guilt for the alleged crimes committed after 2017, ordered his release and denied his extradition. But Santrich was captured again by a video of the Prosecutor's Office in which he allegedly appeared negotiating the shipment to the United States of a shipment of drugs.
Finally, on May 29, 2019, Santrich was released again, arguing that because he is a congressman and has constitutional capacity, it would be the Supreme Court of Justice that had to prosecute him.
On June 11, Santrich finally received his credentials as a representative to the Chamber, but continued with his legal process.
But on June 30 Santrich abandoned his security scheme and since then his whereabouts were unknown until August 29 when he was armed with a rifle with Iván Márquez and other FARC leaders announcing his return to the armed struggle.
Jesus Santrich