Marcelo Pecci: lawyer of the prosecutor’s widow reacts to the murder of the perpetrator of the crime

Francisco Luis Correa Galeanoa key player in the crime of the Paraguayan prosecutor Marcelo Pecci, perpetrated on May 10, 2022 in Colombia, was murdered in La Picota prison in Bogotá, where he was serving his sentence, it was reported this Friday, January 3.

After hearing this news, Paraguay’s ABC TV network interviewed Cecilia Pérez, who represents Claudia Aguilera, Pecci’s widow. “More than a burning of the archive, it is a message for what remains of the investigation,” said Pérez.

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And he added: “We are going to continue insisting. We are going to ask for an exhaustive investigation to be carried out into how these events occurred with Francisco Correa Galeano. What he contributed is already in the file. From now on, it is to work on what he already said and work on that line of research.

Who was Correa Galeano?

Correa Galeano, 45 years old, was attacked this morning with a knife in one of the patios of La Picota, where he had been transferred from the Prosecutor’s Office bunker, where he was initially detained, as confirmed by prison authorities. .

According to the first information, he was murdered in cell 25 of pavilion 32 of La Picota, a prison located in the south of Bogotá.

In May 2024, a Colombian court had sentenced Correa Galeano, considered one of the ‘articulators’ of Pecci’s murder, to six and a half years in prison after he reached a collaboration agreement with the Prosecutor’s Office to provide more details of the case. crime.

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This reduced sentence was reached after the accused committed to making reparations to the victims and accepted his responsibility in the murder of the Paraguayan anti-mafia prosecutor.

This was reported at that time by the Colombian Prosecutor’s Office, which indicated that Correa accepted that he transported the firearm used in the crime, while he was also charged with one count of threats against the prosecutor and the guarantee control judge who participated in the hearings in which his capture and prosecution were legalized.

DANIEL DUARTE/AFP

What do the victims and authorities say?

“She (Claudia Aguilera) is strong, she continues to fight. We are all in this together with the rest of the family to go to the end. Of course, these types of events generate hopelessness but, despite that, we remain firm “said lawyer Cecilia Pérez in an interview with Paraguay’s ABC TV after the murder of Correa Galeano.

The lawyer pointed out: “It is a message. It is revenge, on the one hand, for all the statements. And it is a message for the future. But that does not have to intimidate us. It is clearly an objective to frustrate possible future statements.”

Also read: Widow of Marcelo Pecci highlighted the work of Mario Burgos in the case of her husband’s crime

Pecci, one of Paraguay’s most important anti-mafia prosecutors, was murdered by hitmen in front of his wife, Claudia Aguilera, on the beach of a hotel on the Colombian island of Barú where the couple was spending their honeymoon. For Pecci’s murder, Colombian authorities have captured and convicted seven people and arrests have also been made in Venezuela and El Salvador.

“What is clear to us is that the monster is alive. We need the investigations to advance. I do not believe that Correa Galeano was killed in the middle of a fight or a fight over some issue. This has to do with information that he was providing “He was going to be sentenced this month,” said lawyer Francisco Bernate, legal representative of the Pecci family in Colombia, also speaking to ABC TV in Paraguay.

For his part, the Deputy Prosecutor for International Affairs of Paraguay, Manuel Doldán, stated that, “apart from this, the investigation continues. We have to find out (intellectual authors). I’m not saying it’s going to be easy, but we have to find out. “Not only because of the moral responsibility and responsibility that we have with respect to Marcelo and his family, but with respect to all prosecutors in the region and the world.”

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