Office of the Attorney General of Colombia

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Not to be confused with Inspector General of Colombia.
Office of the Attorney General
Fiscalía General de la Nación
Fiscalía General de la Nación (Colombia) logo.svg
Agency overview
Formed July 6, 1991 (1991-07-06)
Headquarters Diagonal 22B 52-01
(Ciudad Salitre),
Bogotá, Colombia
Annual budget COP$1,437,526,644,588
(est. 2010)[1]
Agency executives
  • Eduardo Montealegre Lynett, Attorney General
  • José Ricardo González Esguerra, Deputy Attorney General
Child agency
Website www.fiscalia.gov.co

The Office of the Attorney General of Colombia (Spanish: Fiscalía General de la Nación; literally "General Prosecutorial Office of the Nation") is the Colombian institution part of the Colombian judicial branch of Government with administrative autonomy designed to prosecute offenders, investigate crimes, review judicial processes and accuse penal law infractions against judges and courts of justice.[2] The Office of the Attorney General was created by the Colombian Constitution of 1991 and began operating on July 1, 1992. The current Attorney General is Eduaro Montealegre Lynett.

An investigative process is initiated either by the institutions' own initiative or after a denouncer has made authorities aware of the case in a police station or in a Quick Reaction Unit of the Attorney General's Office.

The Attorney General

Election process

The Attorney General is elected by Colombian Supreme Court out of a ternary presented by the President for a period of four years. To cast the final vote, the Supreme Court of Justice must meet a quorum of 16 out of the possible 23 votes, i.e. two thirds of the votes.

List of Attorneys General

Order Name Years in Office
1st Gustavo de Greiff Restrepo 1 April 1992 – 17 August 1994
2nd Alfonso Valdivieso Sarmiento 18 August 1994 – 8 May 1997
3rd Alfonso Gómez Méndez 3 July 1997 – 3 July 2001
4th Luis Camilo Osorio Isaza 1 August 2001 – 1 August 2005
5th Mario Germán Iguarán Arana 1 August 2005 – 1 August 2009
6th ad interim Guillermo Mendoza Diago 1 August 2009 – 12 January 2011
7th Viviane Morales Hoyos 12 January 2011 – 6 March 2012
8th Martha Lucía Zamora Ávila 6 March 2012 – 29 March 2012
9th ad interim Eduardo Montealegre Lynett 29 March 2012 – present

Deputy Attorney General

The Deputy Attorney General (Vicefiscal General) is the second-in-command to the Attorney General and is appointed by the Attorney General to represent him before the different entities of the State and society, and replaces him in his absence. The Deputy Attorney General assists in formulating policies regarding the entity and ensures their compliance. He coordinates international technical assistance programs and presents update reports to the Attorney General.[3] The current Deputy Attorney General is José Ricardo González Esguerra, who was appointed by Martha Lucía Zamora Ávila in January 2012.

In 2009, after the end of Attorney General Iguarán's term, the Deputy Attorney General, Guillermo Mendoza Diago, took over interimly as Attorney General until January 2011 because the Supreme Court struggled to select Iguarán's successor.

Controversies

Former Attorney General Luis Camilo Osorio, whose four year term ran from 2001 to 2005, was criticized by Human Rights Watch. They accused him of undermining investigations into human rights violations by retiring or forcing the resignation of several investigators.[4]

References

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