The Colombian prosecutor's office accuses the mastermind of the crime of Paraguayan prosecutor Marcelo Pecci

MADRID, 20 Ago. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Colombian Prosecutor's Office has formally accused Francisco Luis Correa Galeano this Friday as the mastermind of the murder of Paraguayan prosecutor Marcelo Pecci in May in Cartagena.

The public ministry has indicated that Correa Galeano was the one who coordinated the crime as well as the entry of the armed group to the Decameron hotel, where Pecci was during his honeymoon in Colombia.

The trial starts on September 19, at which time the accused will have to testify for crimes of aggravated homicide and aggravated manufacturing, trafficking, carrying or possession of weapons. The Prosecutor's Office has requested an exemplary sentence for the defendant, a punishment that can range between 40 and 50 years in prison.

The evidence collected - sworn statements, technical evidence and audiovisual material - indicates that the accused would have been in the city where the crime occurred.

"Through security cameras, and hotel and transportation records, and through the location reported by Correa Galeano's cell phone, it was possible to establish that the defendant today would have been in Cartagena on the days the murder took place," reads the statement. statement from the Public Prosecutor's Office.

Correa Galeano would have met with different people to coordinate the movement of the assassins and follow up on the victim.

"For these facts, the Prosecutor's Office considered that Correa Galeano's participation in the murder of prosecutor Marcelo Pecci was fundamental, since added to the above he would have delivered money, the weapon and coordinated the logistics to carry out the murder," details the Prosecutor's Office.

At the end of June, the Colombian Justice sentenced four of those arrested for the murder to 23 years and six months. A court in Cartagena endorsed the acceptance of charges for crimes of homicide and illegal possession of weapons against Cristian Camilo Monsalve, Eiverson Adrián Zabaleta, Marisol Londoño and Wender Still Scoot.

The acknowledgment of responsibility and collaboration with the Justice reduced their sentence from 47 years in prison to 23 years and six months, the Colombian newspaper 'El Tiempo' reported. Marcelo Pecci's brother, Francisco Pecci, took part in the hearing, asking the judicial authorities for the maximum sentence for those under investigation.

Pecci was killed in an alleged attack after being shot in an attack carried out by unidentified persons on an island in the Barú peninsula, in the city of Cartagena.

He had moved to Cartagena with his wife, Claudia Aguilera, whom he married on April 30. Hours earlier, Aguilera, who was unharmed, had announced on social media that the couple was expecting her first child.

The Paraguayan prosecutor was specialized in organized crime, with experience in units against drug trafficking, money laundering and financing of terrorism.

The president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, referred to the assassination of the prosecutor as a sign that drug trafficking is a problem that affects the entire South American continent.

"The investigation into the murder of the Paraguayan prosecutor (...) shows that drug trafficking ceased to be a Colombian-American bilateral problem a long time ago and is today an American and world problem," Petro said on his Twitter profile.