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Colombia's former chief spy Jorge Noguera released

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe's former spy chief was freed from jail after a judge ruled his imprisonment for alleged links to deadly far-right militias was illegal on procedural grounds, the latest twist in a scandal battering Colombia's conservative government.

Jorge Noguera, the former head of the Department of Administrative Security and the closest Uribe ally jailed in the scandal, was arrested on Feb. 22 for conspiring with the paramilitary groups, who are blamed for some of the worst massacres in Colombia's civil war.

His arrest was a major embarrassment to the US-backed government, which is struggling to defend itself against accusations that it turned a blind eye to paramilitary infiltration of public institutions.

On Friday, appellate Judge Leonor Perdomo ruled that the ex-spy chief was "illegally and unconstitutionally being deprived of his freedom" because chief prosecutor Mario Iguaran had not personally issued the request that Noguera be jailed.

The judge said the law demands that only Iguaran himself -- and not a subordinate -- could seek Noguera's arrest given the latter's status as a public servant when he allegedly committed crimes.

Upon being freed, Noguera reiterated his claim of innocence and begged "for God to enlighten" Iguaran, in whose hands his fate now rests.

"In today's polarized Colombia it requires more courage to absolve an innocent man than to condemn him," a defiant Noguera said upon departing La Picota prison in a chauffeured Mercedes.

Iguaran said he was in "total disagreement" with the judge's decision and would continue his investigation.

"I don't think Colombia or the international community can tolerate the message that conspiring with criminals has any relation to one's functions as a public servant," Iguaran said without specifying if or when he would re-arrest Noguera.

Noguera's lawyer, Orlando Perdomo, denied Noguera would flee the country, telling RCN TV his client "hadn't ever considered for a second eluding justice."

Noguera is alleged to have given the far-right paramilitaries a hit list of human rights workers and trade union activists while he was in charge of domestic security.

A number of those named in the list were later killed. Noguera denies the allegations.

Allegations of links to the paramilitaries, who have sought to counter the influence of Colombia's leftist guerrillas, have hounded Uribe's government. So far, eight pro-government congressman and a governor have been arrested for financing, conspiring and plotting murder with far-right warlords.

Several more current and former officials are also under investigation as part of the so-called "para politics" scandal, as well as members of the opposition, most of them from provinces that have traditionally been paramilitary strongholds.
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