The Office of the Attorney General of Colombia is the Colombia

Colombia

Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

n institution part of the Colombian judicial branch of Government

Judicial Branch of Colombia

Judicial Branch of Government of Colombia is the system of courts in Republic of Colombia which administer justice in the name of the state as a mechanism for the resolution of disputes. The judicial branch encompasses judges, magistrates and other adjudicators who form the core of a judiciary, as...

 with administrative autonomy designed to prosecute offenders, investigate crimes, review judicial processes

Judicial review

Judicial review is the doctrine under which legislative and executive actions are subject to review by the judiciary. Specific courts with judicial review power must annul the acts of the state when it finds them incompatible with a higher authority...

 and accuse penal law

Penal law

In the most general sense, penal is the body of laws that are enforced by the State in its own name and impose penalties for their violation, as opposed to civil law that seeks to redress private wrongs...

 infractions against judges and courts of justice. The Office of the Attorney General was created by the Colombian Constitution of 1991

Colombian Constitution of 1991

The Political Constitution of Colombia, better known as the Constitution of 1991, is the current governing document of the Republic of Colombia. Promulgated on July 4 of 1991 , it replaced the Constitution of 1886...

 and began operating on July 1, 1992. The current Attorney General is Viviane Morales Hoyos

Viviane Morales Hoyos

Viviane Morales Hoyos is the 7th Attorney General of Colombia and the first woman to hold that post. She was elected by the Supreme Court of Justice out of a ternary presented by President Juan Manuel Santos Calderón that also included Juan Carlos Esguerra Portocarrero and Carlos Gustavo Arrieta...

.

An investigative process is initiated either by the institutions' own initiative or after a denouncer has made authorities aware of the case in a police station

Colombian National Police

The National Police of Colombia is the national police force of Colombia. Although the National Police is not part of the Military of Colombia , it constitutes along with them the "Public Force" and is also controlled by the Ministry of Defense. They are the largest police force in Colombia...

 or in a Quick Reaction Unit of the Attorney General's Office.

Election process

The Attorney General is elected by Colombian Supreme Court out of a ternary

Ternary

Ternary is an adjective meaning "composed of three items". It can refer to:* Ternary complex, a complex formed by the interaction of three molecules* Ternary compound, a type of chemical compound...

 presented by the President for a period of four years. To cast the final vote, the Supreme Court of Justice must meet a quorum

Quorum

A quorum is the minimum number of members of a deliberative assembly necessary to conduct the business of that group...

 of 16 out of the possible 23 votes, i.e. two thirds of the votes.

List of Attorneys General

Order	Name	Years in Office
1st	Gustavo de Greiff Restrepo	April 1, 1992 – August 17, 1994
2nd	Alfonso Valdivieso Sarmiento Alfonso Valdivieso Sarmiento Alfonso Valdivieso Sarmiento is a Colombian lawyer and politician who as the 2nd Attorney General of Colombia brought charges and stood against the administration of Ernesto Samper Pizano during the Proceso 8000. He also served as the 24th Permanent Representative of Colombia to the United Nations...	August 18, 1994 – May 8, 1997
3rd	Alfonso Gómez Méndez Alfonso Gómez Méndez Alfonso Gómez Méndez is an Colombian lawyer and politician. He is a presidential precandidate of the Liberal Party of Colombia....	July 3, 1997 – July 3, 2001
4th	Luis Camilo Osorio Isaza	August 1, 2001 – July 31, 2005
5th	Mario Germán Iguarán Arana Mario Germán Iguarán Arana Mario Germán Iguarán Arana is the current Ambassador of Colombia to Egypt. A lawyer, Iguarán has also served as the 3rd Deputy Minister of Justice of Colombia, the 5th Attorney General of Colombia, and as Assistant Magistrate of the Constitutional Court of Colombia.-Career:Iguarán received his...	August 1, 2005 – July 31, 2009
6th	Guillermo Mendoza Diago (interim)	August 1, 2009 – Janury 12, 2011
7th	Viviane Morales Hoyos Viviane Morales Hoyos Viviane Morales Hoyos is the 7th Attorney General of Colombia and the first woman to hold that post. She was elected by the Supreme Court of Justice out of a ternary presented by President Juan Manuel Santos Calderón that also included Juan Carlos Esguerra Portocarrero and Carlos Gustavo Arrieta...	January 12, 2011 – present

Deputy Attorney General

The Deputy Attorney General (Vicefiscal General) is the second-in-command to the Attorney General and is appointed by the Attorney General to represent him before the different entities of the State and society, and replaces him in his absence. The Deputy Attorney General assists in formulating policies regarding the entity and ensures their compliance. He coordinates international technical assistance programs and presents update reports to the Attorney General. The current Deputy Attorney General is Juan Carlos Forero Ramírez, who was appointed by Viviane Morales Hoyos in January 2011.

In 2009, after the enf of Attorney General Iguarán's term, the Deputy Attorney General, Guillermo Mendoza Diago, took over interim

Interim

Interim is an album by British rock band The Fall, compiled from live and studio material and released in 2004. It features the first officially released versions of "Clasp Hands", "Blindness" and "What About Us?" — all of which were later included on the band's next studio album Fall Heads Roll —...

ly as Attorney General until January 2011 because the Supreme Court struggled to select Iguarán's successor.

Controversies

Former Attorney General Luis Camilo Osorio, whose four year term ran from 2001 to 2005, was criticized by Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...

. They accused him of undermining investigations into human rights

Human rights

Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...

violations by retiring or forcing the resignation of several investigators.