The Office of the Attorney General of Colombia ( es, Fiscalía General de la Nación; literally "General Prosecutorial Office of the Nation") is the Colombian institution part of the Colombian judicial branch of Government with administrative autonomy designed to prosecute offenders, investigate crimes, review judicial processes and accuse

penal law Criminal law is the body of law that relates to crime. It prescribes conduct perceived as threatening, harmful, or otherwise endangering to the property, health, safety, and moral welfare of people inclusive of one's self. Most criminal law ...

infractions against judges and courts of justice. The Office of the Attorney General was created by the

Colombian Constitution of 1991 The Political Constitution of Colombia of 1991 ( es, Constitución Política de Colombia de 1991), is the Constitution of the Republic of Colombia. It was promulgated in Constitutional Gazette number 114 on Thursday, July 4, 1991, and is als ...

and began operating on July 1, 1992. The current attorney general is Fernando Carrillo. An investigative process is initiated either by the institutions' own initiative or after a

denouncer Denunciation (from Latin ''denuntiare'', "to denounce") is the act of publicly assigning to a person the blame for a perceived wrongdoing, with the hope of bringing attention to it. Notably, centralized social control in authoritarian states re ...

has made authorities aware of the case in a

police station A police station (sometimes called a "station house" or just "house") is a building which serves to accommodate police officers and other members of staff. These buildings often contain offices and accommodation for personnel and vehicles, ...

or in a Quick Reaction Unit of the Attorney General's Office.

Attorney General

Election process

The attorney general is elected by Colombian Supreme Court out of a ternary presented by the president for a period of four years. To cast the final vote, the Supreme Court of Justice must meet a quorum of 16 out of the possible 23 votes, i.e. two thirds of the votes.

List of attorneys general

Controversies

Former attorney general Luis Camilo Osorio, whose four-year term ran from 2001 to 2005, was criticized by

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...

. They accused him of undermining investigations into

human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

violations by retiring or forcing the resignation of several investigators.

References

{{Coord, 4, 38, 20, N, 74, 5, 58, W, display=title, region:CO_type:city Judiciary of Colombia * Government agencies established in 1991 1991 establishments in Colombia