Colombia frees US missionary detained over FARC links
Colombia has set free a US missionary after he was taken into custody on suspicion of having links with the main leftist rebel group in the South American country.
On Thursday, a Colombian judge ruled that the evidence against the 59-year-old, named as a Russell Martin Stendal, was not currently sufficient to warrant his detention and ordered his release.
Stendal, a longtime resident of Colombia, was detained on Wednesday at police headquarters in the capital Bogota after turning himself in. He is charged with collaborating with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebel group.
Regional prosecutor Carlos Manuel Silva has also accused the evangelist missionary of “a starring role” in a “terrorist support network whose work consisted in setting up portable radio stations that were used to spread terrorist propaganda.”
Prosecutors can still pursue a trial for Stendal.
David Witt, CEO of Arizona-based Spirit of Martyrdom ministries, which funds Stendal's work, has said, “We like to describe him as the Christian Indiana Jones. He risks his life on a daily basis for the help of the Colombian people.”
The FARC is Latin America’s oldest rebel group, which has been fighting the Colombian government since 1964.
HN/MKA/HMV
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