They get sick before they see the judge: the cases of defendants who evade justice by medical means

Last Wednesday, November 23, former senator Eduardo Pulgar, who is in detention, arrived at the La Misericordia Clinic in Baranquilla, after he complained of severe chest pain. This alleged ailment leaves on hold the transfer to La Picota Prison in Bogotá, which was ordered by INPEC a couple of weeks ago. Pulgar joins a long list of politicians and criminals who have suffered “diseases” before they are transferred to La Picota.

Emilio Tapia, involved in the Mintic and Centro Poblados scandal that cost former minister Karen Abudinen her job, was also the victim of an alleged power surge, so he was transferred to the La Misericordia Clinic. This led to Tapia being taken to a URI in Barranquilla where he arrived with a hand stick.

Despite this, on October 8, a judge denied the criminal contractor's request to stay in Barranquilla and ordered that he be transferred to a maximum-security prison, not without first insisting on being seen by a doctor “for an assessment.”

Carlos Mattos, the businessman captured by the Hyundai case in Colombia, was involved in a scandal after it became known that he could leave the prison in which he was being held without problem. This led to his transfer to the Cómbita penitentiary in Boyacá.

When the authorities arrived at his cell, he claimed to be ill and asked to be visited by a health specialist.

“(I was) very sick all day and the doctor was here until two hours ago and I want him to see me,” said the businessman.

The list is continued by Enrique Vives Caballero, a businessman from Santa Marta who, under the influence of alcohol, ran over and killed six young people in Gaira. After he was captured, vives did everything possible to ensure that the preliminary hearings against him would take place in healthcare centers, saying that he had “abdominal pain resulting from post-traumatic shock”.

“Diarrhea and gastroenteritis of suspected infectious origin” was the diagnosis used by Diego Cadena, one of Álvaro Uribe's former lawyers, during one of the hearings for the crime of false witnesses, which is still ongoing.

Another similar case is that of Samuel Viñas, a Barranquillero merchant who murdered his wife Clarena Acosta and who was sentenced to 42 years in prison. After he knows the sentence of 42 years in prison.

Viñas argued for alleged mental disorders, so he was initially at home in prison, but the Supreme Court said that all the illnesses he claimed to have were not serious, so he was ordered to be transferred in February 2020.

One of the most notorious cases of case-for-jail for illness was that of businesswoman del chance and paramilitary ally Enilse López 'La Gata', who was sentenced to 37 years in prison for aggravated homicide and crime concert.

In 2107, a judge granted home detention with hospitalization to Enilse López because he claimed to be in a serious state of health, among which, according to his lawyer, were malnutrition, ischemia, heart disease problems.

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