Pallade Veneta - Colombian cycling star 'Lucho' Herrera denies murder conspiracy

Two former paramilitaries have accused the 1987 Vuelta a Espana winner of conspiring with them in 2002 to kill four neighbors of one of his farms in central Colombia, according to Noticias UNO news channel.

The 63-year-old issued a statement on Monday denying any wrongdoing.

"I have never belonged to criminal organizations nor have I ever intended to cause harm to anyone," he said.

One of Herrera's accusers was sentenced recently to 22 years and six months imprisonment over the forced disappearance of the farmers.

He alleges Herrera flagged up the victims as alleged members of leftist guerrilla groups that were at the time engaged in a bloody territorial struggle with rightwing paramilitary groups.

The paramilitaries claim Herrera's goal was to seize the farmers' land.

A source from the prosecutor's office told AFP investigators would start looking for the farmers' bodies this week.

Herrera, who is not being formally investigated over the affair, said the claims made against him were an attempt to sully his reputation.

In his career as a businessman and trader, he added, he had been a victim of extortion, threats and kidnapping -- all of which had been reported to the authorities.

He said he was available to work with investigators.

Herrera was kidnapped for several hours in 2000 by the FARC guerrilla army seeking a ransom from his family.

The group laid down arms in 2017 after signing a peace deal with the government.

Herrera is known as "the little gardener of Fusagasuga" after his home town and in recognition of the manual labor that had built up his muscles for cycling.

His wins at several major Colombian and then European events in the 1980s -- notably 1987's Vuelta -- made him a national hero by the time he retired in 1995 to run the farm he had bought near his hometown.

R.Zarlengo--PV