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| New hope: British businessman Krishna Maharaj, 74, pictured with his wife Marita during a recent prison visit. He has been imprisoned in Miami for 27 years for a double-murder he says he did not commit. |
Now after 27 years in prison there is news that he might have been framed by powerful drug lords. According to a story in the UK Daily Mail His lawyers have unearthed "sensational new evidence" that confirms that Maharaj was always innocent.
The hearing is Maharaj’s final chance to appeal. His original death sentence was overturned in 2003 and his earliest possible release date is 2040.
Read related story: New evidence in murder case of Ramesh’s brother
Former henchman points fingers at drug cartel
The Mail said the new evidence includes statements from key cartel members who had direct knowledge of the killings. This information would be presented next month in a Miami court by Maharaj’s lawyers, led by Clive Stafford Smith, of human rights charity Reprieve.
A critical component of the evidence is a "sworn statement from ‘El Asistente’, an enforcer for the infamous Pablo Escobar, whose murderous reign as the Medellin cartel’s chief drug lord ended in a shootout with Colombian police in 1993," the paper stated.
It added, "El Asistente, whose statement describes crucial details of the murders, says: ‘I am giving this [statement] because I have reconnected with my religious faith. The idea that Krishna Maharaj has served more than a quarter-century in prison for a crime I know he did not commit appals me. I want to set the record straight and ensure he gets justice.’"
A critical component of the evidence is a "sworn statement from ‘El Asistente’, an enforcer for the infamous Pablo Escobar, whose murderous reign as the Medellin cartel’s chief drug lord ended in a shootout with Colombian police in 1993," the paper stated.
It added, "El Asistente, whose statement describes crucial details of the murders, says: ‘I am giving this [statement] because I have reconnected with my religious faith. The idea that Krishna Maharaj has served more than a quarter-century in prison for a crime I know he did not commit appals me. I want to set the record straight and ensure he gets justice.’"
According to the newspaper 'El Asistente' also names the true killer as Guillermo Zuluaga, a notorious Medellin hitman known as Cuchilla, which means ‘the blade’.
"I know the details about Cuchilla’s involvement because he admitted to me that he had done it," the paper quotes El Asistente as saying.
The paper said Cuchilla also orchestrated the murder of CIA agent Barry Seal in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, citing El Asistente as its source.
Read the full report by DAVID ROSE:
This Briton has spent 27 years in jail for murder. Now Colombian drugs barons admit they did it: The Rolls-Royce-driving socialite sentenced to death for gang hit and the new evidence making a mockery of US justice
- Krishna Maharaj, 74, was convicted of double murder in 1986
- Imprisoned for the slaying of an ex-business associate and his son
- Five alibi witnesses were not allowed to prove his innocence at trial
- Now a reformed drugs baron names notorious Medellin hitman as the killer
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