The story of Andrés Ballesteros, the Colombian who has been imprisoned for 8 years with no evidence against him in Tanzania

Andrés Felipe Ballesteros Uribe is a 36-year-old citizen of Colombian nationality who has been deprived of liberty for 8 years, in a prison in Tanzania, on the east coast of central Africa, although there is no evidence against him.

In August 2014, Ballesteros took a vacation and traveled to Tanzania to celebrate his 28th birthday The plan was to visit the beaches of that country and discover a new ‘destination’. In Colombia, his wife, parents and children said goodbye to him as he left for his trip: a 7-year-old girl, who is now 15; and a newborn who is already 8 years old, and that he has never been able to see or hug.

Upon landing in Dar es-Salam, the city that houses the seat of the Tanzanian Government and the most populous in that country, Ballesteros’ trip became an inferno. Local police detained him and isolated him from the other passengers.

The officials took him to a room while they questioned him in a language Andrés did not understand and did not know what they were accusing him of. The file they opened against him was for drug trafficking, a charge that, up to now, the Prosecutor’s Office of that country has not been able to verify. In fact, there are not even details of where they found the alleged illicit substance, nor the type of drug, nor the amount that would have been seized.

Since then, Andrés has been kept locked up in the Keko prison, which, according to the Colombian journalist Andrés Felipe Giraldo, is «a prison with subhuman conditions» in which he finds himself, together, with 1,600 inmates, o which «many have not even been brought to trial or just don’t know what the charges against them are”, as is the case with Ballesteros. In the enclosure (in addition) the inmates have to endure temperatures above «40º centigrade in the shade, without water and without food».

In September 2019, Giraldo made public the story of what this Colombian is living and the fight that his family has undertaken, since 2014, in search of justice. The journalist has been personally involved in the case and has become a friend of Andrés’ brother, Juan Carlos Ballesteros, who leads the efforts for his release.His liberation process was blocked

Andrés was not able to see any member of his family during the first year he was kept in jail. It was in May 2015 when, for the first time, his brother Juan Carlos was able to visit him and learn the reality of his situation. His entire case was marked by irregularities and corruption, furthermore, no court-appointed attorney had assumed the defense of Ballesteros with the seriousness that it required, several lawyers even abandoned him.

The first ‘break’ in this nightmare that Andrés’ relatives had, was almost five years after his arrest, when they brought him to trial for the first time, after the steps taken by the Colombian Foreign Ministry and, above all, due to the pressure exerted by Andrés’s brother, Juan Carlos.

During the hearing, held in June 2019, Giraldo describes that Judge Hon Matupa, «considered, within the Tanzanian public opinion, as a serious and impartial administrator of justice», ruled in favor of Andrés and acquitted him because the Prosecutor lifted the charges because of the inconsistencies surrounding the evidence presented in the case.

Everyone believed that Andrés would be released and that he would return home, but that did not happen. The moment of happiness was interrupted by the local police, who immediately re-arrested Ballesteros «preventively», and then they charged him, again, with the same charges as before, a mechanism permitted by Tanzanian law.

Thus, the nightmare began again. Due to the lack of adequate legal advice, Andrés did not know that if he filed a habeas corpus, he could guarantee his freedom and avoid jail. He paid for that ignorance with a new judicial framework that has kept him imprisoned for three more years.

After these events, the Colombian Foreign Ministry reported on the irregularities in the case and detailed the actions they were taking to ensure Ballesteros’ freedom, committing itself to support his fellow countryman, but to no avail.Ballesteros closer to freedom

With the arrival of the new Government of Gustavo Petro in Colombia, the case was taken up with greater interest by Bogotá, which ordered the legal secretary of the Presidency, the lawyer Vladimir Fernández, to intervene directly.

With the new procedures underway, the Tanzanian justice decided that in order to free Ballesteros, Andrés had to accept a criminal charge and that his family would have to pay a «fine» of 50 million Tanzanian shillings, about 25,000 dollars or 120 million Colombian pesos, an amount that has to be delivered in a short time or the opportunity would be lost.

The decision opened a window for Andrés, who could receive a sentence of more than 20 years in prison if the fine was not paid, to obtain his freedom. However, the difficulty was getting the money.

The first obstacle was that the family did not have that amount and the Colombian State could not pay it either, since the law does not allow it to make financial contributions for this type of issue.

Thus, the journalist Giraldo decided to open a request on Twitter to obtain, through a public collection managed by himself, the amount required by the Tanzanian justice system. Andrés assumed one of the charges and the only thing missing was the money.

Finally, Colombian citizens contributed the amount and a little more. Giraldo posted on Twitter several of the transactions while the collection was being made and, upon gathering all the required money, commented that he had spent «six frantic nights» while receiving each of the bank transfers, which he then sent to Tanzania so that Andrés could be free and fly back to Colombia

Giraldo reported that the Tanzanian Attorney General had notified the Government of Colombia that the money from the fine had arrived and that this Tuesday Ballesteros will be brought before a judge to endorse the agreement and give him the release ticket.

He then added, «Can we cry and hug now? Yes. Now we can cry and hug. Andrés Felipe will have three days to hug his captive companions and say goodbye to them with the promise to continue fighting for freedom. Thanks to each and every one of you. Thank you Colombia. I’m crying».