The Prosecutor's Office has requested full absolution for doctor David Cangrejo and eleven other individuals involved in an alleged electoral corruption case in Neiva. After a decade of investigations, the evidence failed to overcome the presumption of innocence. The proceedings, started in 2016, collapsed due to insufficient proof.
The case against David Cangrejo, manager of the ESE Carmen Emilia Ospina in Neiva, and eleven other officials began in 2016 with charges of extortion and voter coercion. Authorities arrested the involved parties on May 13, 2016, in an operation by the Seventh Sectional Prosecutor's Office, but three months later, on August 8, Judge Jorge Enrique Luna revoked the detention measure, allowing their release.
Initially, the Prosecutor's Office presented 23 witnesses and 127 pieces of evidence, but several key proofs were declared illegal on August 4, 2016. Later, Judge María del Pilar Ochoa excluded additional evidence and protected witnesses, without the prosecutor filing any appeals. Two of the four imputed conducts prescribed at the end of last year due to procedural inertia.
Fiscal Sandra Patricia Orjuela, who took over the case in late 2024, concluded in her final arguments that the practiced evidence lacked sufficient weight. "After analyzing integrally the decreed and practiced evidence in the trial, this office concludes that they lack the sufficient entity to rebut the presumption of innocence", stated Orjuela. She added that no abuse of position or threats to manipulate votes were proven, and testimonies were limited to indirect comments or rumors.
Witnesses such as former councilor Johan Steed Ortiz and councilor Mateo Trujillo provided no direct evidence. The defense denied any directives to condition contracts or jobs for political support. Lawyer Ernesto Cruz Daza emphasized: "It is clear that the legally relevant facts of the accusation were not proven directly or indiciarily".
The proceedings, lasting nearly ten years and exceeding prescription deadlines, resulted in an evidentiary void. The Prosecutor's Office, under the principle of objectivity, requested absolution for Cangrejo and the others: Rosa Omaira Bastidas Javela, Juan Carlos Vázquez Vargas, among others. Judge Freddy Ávila Peña must decide, but reasonable doubt points to an acquittal sentence before Holy Week.
