BOGOTA (AFP) -- Interpol has turned down a request by an Ecuadoran judge to arrest former Colombian Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos, the head of Colombia's intelligence service said Saturday.
DAS director Felipe Munoz said the international police group had "denied the request for an arrest warrant against former minister Santos" over a deadly raid he ordered against leftist rebels inside Ecuador.
Munoz told reporters the message had earlier been transmitted to Interpol's office in Bogota.
Judge Daniel Mendez's request has been rejected, Munoz said, because it violated Article 3 of Interpol's statutes barring intervention in "political, military, racial and religious matters."
The argument was put forward by the Colombian government in a letter to Interpol's headquarters in Lyon, France, the DAS director said Friday.
Santos, who has left his post for a potential 2010 presidential bid in Colombia, is wanted in Ecaudor for the March 1, 2008, military raid that killed 25 rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) operating inside Ecuador, including FARC number two Raul Reyes.
An Ecuadoran national was also among those killed.
The cross-border raid was denounced at the time by Ecuador as a violation of the country's sovereignty and prompted a diplomatic rift between the South American neighbors.
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Publié le 05 Juillet 2009 Copyright © 2009 Dowjones