Iván Duque said he respected the separation of powers following the Colombian court's decision to refuse the extradition of Jesús Santrich to the United States.

The Colombian president,Iván Duque said Wednesday that he respected the separation of powers, referring to the decision of the Special jurisdiction for peace (PEC) to refuse extradition to the United States. for drug trafficking by former FARC leader Jesus Santrich, whose case he said is not closed.

"The national government respects the Constitution and therefore the separation of powers. However, we share the indignation of the Colombian people for the CEP's decision to order the release of the drug trafficking syndicate in the United States, aka 'Jesus Santrich & # 39; Duque said in a statement to Casa de Nariño.

The CEP applied the non-extradition guarantee to Seuxis Paucias Hernández, aka "Jesus Santrich", at the request of the United States Judge for crimes related to drug trafficking allegedly committed after the signing of the peace agreement concluded in November 2016.

"All state institutions will guarantee the application of justice, judicial cooperation", baderted the president, who added that "all the tools at your disposal for that there will be no impunity will be used".

The president also badured that he supported the decision of the Colombian prosecutor, Fernando Carrillo, who will appeal the decision of the Transitional Court because he considers that the Supreme Court of Justice must continue the investigationbecause the facts alleged against Santrich occurred after the signing of the peace agreement.

"The national government supports the decision of the Attorney General of the nation to appeal the decision because we are not dealing with a closed case"Added Duque.

In this sense, he badured that, as President, he had been and will always be "always ready to sign the extradition of the pseudonym" Jesus Santrich "and any other accused of drug trafficking, in accordance with the Constitution and the law ".

The JEP judgment led the Attorney General, Néstor Humberto Martínez, a resign from his post because he felt that he could not approve what he was calling "Defiance of the legal order".

The Deputy Prosecutor did the same. María Paulina Riveros, who announced that he is also leaving office.

In this regard, the Head of State deplored the resignation of Martinez, who said he had worked "with determination in the fight against crime and corruption".

In addition, the President stated that will preserve "above all the institutional solidity" of Colombia, that's why he called on political parties to carry out "the necessary reforms" that allow "to close the doors to drug trafficking, impunity, and strengthen extradition as one of the mechanisms that have proven effective in the fight against transnational criminals. "

"True truth, genuine justice, genuine reparation and the real guarantee of non-repetition of the victims would be at risk in the event of tolerance of criminal recidivism. Justice must always always be at the service of the victims and not the perpetrators ", he added.

Duke also recalled that two of the six objections "for inconvenience" that he had formulated last March to the statutory law of the CEP are intended to avoid "this type of results that induce us today.""He said in a statement he gave after a six – hour emergency meeting that he had with several ministers and close aides.

"Acting with the Constitution in hand to defend the rule of law and the rule of law, as well as to strengthen international judicial cooperation, were among the reasons why we presented objections to the statutory right of the CEP", he said. said.

(With information from EFE)