Colombian pastor spends 9 months in US jail after wrongful extradition
Source: Colombia Reports
Colombian pastor spends 9 months in US jail after wrongful extradition
Sep 30, 2014 posted by Matthew Sterne
Colombian pastor has returned to his home country after 9 months in a US jail following his wrongful extradition to the USA, reported Radio Santa Fe on Tuesday.
The victim was Joel Chaustre, a native evangelical pastor from the city of Cucuta, who was arrested on September 11, 2013 and delivered to the American authorities.
The US Justice Department accused the preacher of setting up a powerful drug trafficking organization, and requested his extradition to stand trial for money laundering, a crime that has a sentence of 15 years in prison in the United States.
After 9 months of being held in a federal prison, U.S. authorities found no evidence to incriminate the pastor.
Chaustre had two options. If he chose to plead not guilty to the charges he would be forced to spend longer in prison while his case was resolved. Instead he plead guilty which would exonerate his time spent in prison.
Read more: http://colombiareports.co/colombia-pastor-mistakenly-extradited-usa-spends-9-months-jail/
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