BOGOTA (Reuters) – A court docket in Colombia has ordered President Ivan Duque to be fined and positioned beneath home arrest for 5 days, it stated on Saturday, citing the Andean nation’s chief failure to adjust to a earlier ruling that demanded he defend a nationwide park.

Specialists say the order by the court docket in Ibague, the capital metropolis of Colombia’s Tolima province, has no likelihood of being carried out. Colombia’s president can solely be accused and investigated by a particular legislative fee, and may solely be tried by the nation’s congress.

Duque was discovered to be in contempt of court docket for failing to enact measures to guard the Los Nevados nationwide park as ordered by Colombia’s Supreme Court docket in 2020, the superior court docket of Ibague stated in a press release explaining its ruling.

The court docket additionally imposed a high-quality on the president of roughly $4,000 and ordered that he create a particular unit of police or navy members to assist perform conservation work on the park.

The president insisted his authorities has protected Colombia’s pure parks and complied with the court docket order to preserve the Los Nevados nationwide park.

“We have seen an inexplicable preliminary ruling,” Duque stated in a video shared on social media, calling the court docket resolution unconstitutional and insisting that the Supreme Court docket’s order had already been carried out.

Proof demonstrating Duque’s compliance with the Supreme Court docket’s order was despatched to the court docket in Ibague however was ignored, Justice Minister Wilson Ruiz stated in a video assertion despatched to journalists.