BOGOTÁ, Colombia — Colombia’s top administrative court has ruled the state was responsible for the murder of a beloved satirist and peacemaker more than a decade ago.
Jaime Garzón was shot in the head by motorcycle gunmen on his way to work at a radio station in downtown Bogotá. His 1999 slaying shocked Colombians, who looked to the journalist as a trusted intermediary with leftist rebels at a time of rising political violence.
In a ruling Wednesday, the Council of the State said a former army colonel and deputy director of the now-extinct DAS intelligence agency carried out illegal wiretaps on Garzón and shared the information with paramilitary bosses opposed to the humorist’s peace efforts.
The court ordered the state to pay around $235,000 to Garzón’s family for damages.
