Liberal Senator Juan Fernando Cristo has been called upon to testify before a Congress commission over the assassination of Conservative Party leader Alvaro Gomez Hurtado in 1995.
The representative investigator for the commission, Augusto Posado, intends to use the testimony of the senator to shed light on the alleged involvement of Colombia's former President Ernesto Samper Pinzano in the death of Gomez. Sampler was implicated in the murder of the former liberal senator by infamous ex-drug lord "Rasguño," who claims that the order to kill Gomez came from the former president.
Cristo worked as communications adviser for the president at the time that Gomez was assassinated in 1995. According to the representative investigator, Senator Cristo will also be expected to answer questions relating to the alleged illegal funding of campaigns at the time of the liberal senator's death.
The murder of Gomez occurred on November 2, 1995 under the government of Samper which at that time was embroiled in a scandal over drug money being used to fund the political campaign of the then president.
President Samper has also been called upon to testify in the case. The former president has repeatedly said he had no connection with the murder, insisting that "no one is more interested in solving the case of Gomez's murder, it is a disgrace that my name is immersed in the process."
