A group of 14 parliamentarians representing five different political parties submitted an Early Day Motion on Colombia in the British parliament on 27 April 2018. The group was comprised of party members from all four regions of the United Kingdom (Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, England).
The EDM addresses the ongoing detention of Jesús Santrich in Colombia. Santrich is a congressman-elect for the People’s Alternative Revolutionary Force, the political party formed from the 2016 peace agreement. He was a key FARC negotiator during the peace talks and a member of the Implementation and Verification Commission (CSIVI) which is responsible for monitoring the implementation of the agreement. He was arrested in Bogota on 9 April 2018 on accusations of drugs trafficking and is currently being held in prison while the Colombian authorities consider a US request to extradite him to stand trial in New York.
The group of MPs submitted the following motion:
That this House notes with concern that Congressman-Elect Jesus Santrich of the Peoples’ Alternative Revolutionary Force has been on hunger strike since his arrest on 9 April 2018 on allegations of conspiring to traffic drugs; welcomes the statement by the UN Verification Mission in Colombia outlining that the Special Jurisdiction for Peace has the competence to review the case of Congressman-Elect Santrich; further notes the Colombian Supreme Court reiterated this view; urges the Government to encourage the Colombian Government to follow due process and to support the institutions created under the Peace Agreement; and calls on this to happen as quickly as possible given Congressman-Elect Santrich’s continuing hunger strike.
Since its submission, the EDM has been signed by the following parliamentarians:
Primary Sponsor
Jo Stevens MP (Labour Party)
Sponsors
Clive Efford MP (Labour Party)
Ellie Reeves MP (Labour Party)
Patrick Grady MP (Scottish National Party)
Lloyd Russell-Moyle MP (Labour Party)
Martyn Day MP (Scottish National Party)
Other signatories
Peter Bottomley MP (Conservative Party)
Jonathan Edwards MP (Plaid Cymru)
Drew Hendry MP (Scottish National Party)
Lady Hermon (independent)
Kelvin Hopkins MP (Labour Party)
Jim Shannon MP (Democratic Unionist Party)
Dennis Skinner MP (Labour Party)
Christopher Stephens MP (Scottish National Party)