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Laura Lynch presents part one of Power and The Judges.

This week she asks how much power should judges have.

First, strangers showed up at my home asking questions about me, then cars with darkened windows seem to be following me.

And then, one night, someone tried to break into my house.

For Maria Stella Jara Gutierrez, the Ordeal began last year.

That's when the Colombian judge was assigned to hear a case against a former high-ranking army officer.

Colonel Alfonso Plaza Las Vegas faced charges for his role in the forced disappearance of 11 civilians in the Palace of Justice Siege in 1985.

On the 1st of September 2009, I received several documents in the post.

There were two church notices announcing masses to commemorate my death and the death of my son.

And there was a message saying I was a target for a group of armed right-wing extremists.

Judge Gutierrez stayed on the case. In June, she convicted the retired Colonel and sentenced him to 30 years in prison.

The next day, then President Alvaro Uribe went on national television to condemn her decision.

I was never as afraid as I was that day of losing my life.

Even if that wasn't his intention, it increased the risk I would be killed.

By people who might think that by killing me, they could harm the President by making it look as though he was responsible.

Fearing for her son's life as well as her own Gutierrez fled Colombia for Germany.

I'm Laura Lynch and I've spent years studying the law and reporting on legal issues around the world.

The story of Maria Stella Jara Gutierrez is a story of one person trying to deliver justice

in a land where judges are undermined by other powerful players, politicians, paramilitaries, and drug lords.

...