Opposition Hacker Andrés Sepúlveda Sentenced To 10 Years In Prison For Spying On Colombia Peace Process

After Andrés Sepúlveda, a former employee of a presidential candidate Óscar Iván Zuluaga from the 2014 political elections, admitted to have intercepted communications of FARC negotiators, of the top guerrilla leader Rodrigo Londoño, alias “Timochenko,” and of Liberal ex-Senator Piedad Cordoba, among others, he accepted the prosecution’s offer of a reduced penalty in exchange for his cooperation. After verifying the legality of the agreement, Sepúlveda received his sentence after being convicted guilty of five charges, including illegal interception, abusing access to classified information, espionage and use of illegal software according to the Bogota court.

The judge explained 10 years is the maximum sentence possible for Sepúlveda as a reduced penalty on top of paying a pay a fine of approximately $30,000 as part of the agreement. Before hearing his sentence, the hacker read a statement offering an apology to the armed forces and the Colombian police: “I deeply regret the damage I caused them. Every day I regret the damage caused to their good name and honor,” he said. Sepúlveda expressly skipped his apology to the FARC but begged for pardon to all the people involved in the investigative, the prosecutors, and police, attorneys and judges.

“I’m here with my head held high, and I will keep my end of the bargain by cooperating and collaborating with the government despite being called a liar and lunatic.” Sepúlveda added that his worst mistake was to mix his work with politics, “All of my actions to fight against terrorism became death wounds when I got involved in the 2014 elections campaign.” He concluded with a phrase from “The Count Of Monte Cristo”: “It's necessary to have wished for death in order to know how good it is to live.”