His murder on a Colombian beach in the Caribbean during his honeymoon had caused shock and amazement. The four people accused of the murder of Paraguayan anti-Mafia prosecutor Marcelo Pecci on May 10 have each been sentenced to 23 and a half years in prison by Colombian justice.
Four of the five people arrested in early June in Medellin (northwest), Colombia’s second city, have pleaded guilty, according to prosecutor Francisco Barbosa.
Marcelo Pecci, a 45-year-old Paraguayan prosecutor specializing in the fight against drug trafficking and money laundering, was murdered on May 10 on the island of Baru off Colombia where he was spending his honeymoon with his wife, Colombian journalist Claudia Aguilera, recently pregnant. The assassination was committed by killers who landed on the beach on a jet-ski. According to the prosecutor, one of the four convicted is of Venezuelan nationality and the others are Colombians.
Emotion and demonstration in Paraguay
The authorities, however, have not identified the sponsors of this assassination for which the killers received some 530,000 dollars (500,000 euros).
On the front line in several organized crime cases, linked in particular to the activities in Paraguay of Brazilian criminal organizations, Marcelo Pecci was also known for his involvement in the investigation which led footballer Ronaldinho to prison between March and August 2020 for entering in Paraguay with false papers.
The murder of the prosecutor caused shock waves in Paraguay where thousands of people had demonstrated in Asuncion.