Colombian Supreme Court Sentences Congressman Pedro Suárez Vacca to Prison for Prevarication

The Supreme Court of Colombia’s Special First‑Instance Chamber sentenced congressman Pedro José Suárez Vacca, a member of the Pacto Histórico elected from Boyacá, to 68 months and 24 days of imprisonment for aggravated prevarication. The court also imposed a fine of roughly 100 minimum salaries and barred him from holding public office for 110 months and 11 days.

The conviction stems from decisions Suárez Vacca made while serving as a judge in Tunja between 2008 and 2009, when he granted and later maintained house arrest for an inmate convicted of aggravated drug trafficking and simple kidnapping—benefits that the 2002 law expressly prohibited for kidnapping offenses. The court noted that the former judge failed to verify the inmate’s criminal record and knowingly ignored the legal restriction. The ruling denied any suspension of the sentence or alternative confinement, ordered the issuance of a capture warrant, and required Suárez Vacca to publish a summary of the verdict and issue a public apology to the judiciary, the state, and society.

In response, fellow Boyacá representative José Luis Bohórquez López issued a statement praising judicial independence, urging compliance with the sentence, and calling for ethical conduct and transparency within the Pacto Histórico.