Website www.fiscalia.gov.co | ||
Formed July 6, 1991 (1991-07-06) Headquarters Diagonal 22B 52-01
(Ciudad Salitre),
Bogotá, Colombia Annual budget COP$1,437,526,644,588
(est. 2010) Agency executive Néstor Humberto Martínez, Attorney General
, Deputy Attorney General Child agency National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences | ||
The Office of the Attorney General of Colombia (Spanish: Fiscalía General de la Nación; literally "General Prosecutorial Office of the Nation") is the Colombian institution part of the Colombian judicial branch of Government with administrative autonomy designed to prosecute offenders, investigate crimes, review judicial processes and accuse penal law infractions against judges and courts of justice. The Office of the Attorney General was created by the Colombian Constitution of 1991 and began operating on July 1, 1992. The current Attorney General is Néstor Humberto Martínez.
Contents
An investigative process is initiated either by the institutions' own initiative or after a denouncer has made authorities aware of the case in a police station or in a Quick Reaction Unit of the Attorney General's Office.
Election process
The Attorney General is elected by Colombian Supreme Court out of a ternary presented by the President for a period of four years. To cast the final vote, the Supreme Court of Justice must meet a quorum of 16 out of the possible 23 votes, i.e. two thirds of the votes.
Deputy Attorney General
The Deputy Attorney General (Vicefiscal General) is the second-in-command to the Attorney General and is appointed by the Attorney General to represent him before the different entities of the State and society, and replaces him in his absence. The Deputy Attorney General assists in formulating policies regarding the entity and ensures their compliance. He coordinates international technical assistance programs and presents update reports to the Attorney General. The current Deputy Attorney General is José Ricardo González Esguerra, who was appointed by Martha Lucía Zamora Ávila in January 2012.
In 2009, after the end of Attorney General Iguarán's term, the Deputy Attorney General, Guillermo Mendoza Diago, took over interimly as Attorney General until January 2011 because the Supreme Court struggled to select Iguarán's successor.
Controversies
Former Attorney General Luis Camilo Osorio, whose four-year term ran from 2001 to 2005, was criticized by Human Rights Watch. They accused him of undermining investigations into human rights violations by retiring or forcing the resignation of several investigators.