Colombia Releases Former General

Colombian authorities freed a retired general with alleged links to right-wing death squads Sunday after a court found legal flaws in the investigation and his arrest.

Former Gen. Rito Alejo del Rio was at his home in the capital, Bogota, after being released from the army base where he had been held, said Orlando Perdomo, Del Rio’s lawyer.

A Bogota district court judge ordered authorities Saturday to release the general after finding that prosecutors violated legal procedures during their investigation and subsequent arrest, Perdomo said. The judge could not be immediately reached for comment.

But the ruling was unlikely to halt the legal process against Del Rio. The 57-year-old could become the highest-ranking former officer ever tried in civilian court on charges of supporting the rightist paramilitary army--an outlaw group waging a brutal war against leftist rebels.

“The accusations are audacious,” Del Rio said shortly after his release. “After a long career like mine, one has a lot of enemies.”

His arrest by heavily armed agents from the public prosecutor’s office July 23 was criticized by many who called the show of force excessive. Two top aides to the chief prosecutor resigned last week over the flap.

The rival armed groups and the government are entangled in a four-decade civil conflict that kills at least 3,000 people a year.