Arrest of 5 legislators ordered over paramilitary ties (Roundup)

May 14, 2007, 21:31 GMT

Bogota - Colombia's Supreme Court ordered the arrest of five pro-government legislators on Monday in a widening scandal over politicians' links with the country's right-wing paramilitaries.

Another 15 people were also arrested by authorities in what has become known as the 'para-politics' scandal, which has also implicated Colombian President Alvaro Uribe.

The president of the court's criminal division, Judge Alfredo Gomez, said the decision affected legislators accused of signing a secret pact with paramilitary groups in July 2001.

The so-called Ralito Pact, revealed last November, involved lawmakers, government officials, civic leaders and four paramilitary leaders. It has been loosely described as a pact to 'refound the country,' but more exact details have not been revealed.

Colombia has been embroiled in a 40-year-long civil war between right-wing paramilitary groups and Marxist guerillas. Right-wing paramilitaries signed a peace treaty with President Uribe in July 2004.

Gomez said there was no evidence that the legislators had been coerced into signing the 2001 pact, as the lawmakers had claimed. Vice President Francisco Santos has said the scandal could land between 30 and 40 legislators in jail by the time the investigation is over.

The scandal has already led to the arrest of eight pro-government legislators, including the brother of foreign minister Maria Consuelo Araujo - who resigned over the case herself - and one governor.

Uribe, a conservative, has been accused by the opposition of links with paramilitary groups during his time as governor of the province of Antioquia in the mid-1990s. Uribe has denied the charges.