In the latest twist in a scandal battering Colombia's conservative government, Jorge Noguera, the former head of the department of administrative security was arrested on 22 February for conspiring with the paramilitary groups blamed for some of Colombia's worst massacres.

But appellate judge Leonor Perdomo overturned a lower court's decision denying Noguera's release, saying in a statement the ex-spy chief was "illegally and unconstitutionally being deprived of his freedom".