Impunity - Colombia

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WHEREAS in response to requests by the IAPA’s Rapid Response Unit the team of prosecutors of the Colombian Attorney General’s Office in charge of investigations into crimes against journalists for the first time considered concrete goals to identify and punish those responsible for the murder of journalists Hernando Rangel Moreno, Guzmán Quintero Torres, Francisco Castro Menco, Guillermo Bravo Vega, Jaime Rengifo, Flavio Bedoya Sarria and Julio Hernando Palacios WHEREAS sentenced were the former mayor of Barrancabermeja, Julio César Ardila Torres, to 28 years and 4 months in prison; Fabio Pajón Lizcano, candidate for the Barrancabermeja Municipal Council, and Abelardo Rueda Tobón, contender for the Santander Department Assembly, as co-authors of the murder of journalist José Emeterio Rivas, committed on April 6, 2003 WHEREAS the Sole Specialized Court of Quibdo in Chocó sentenced Franklin Isnel Díaz Mosquera to 408 months in prison as mastermind of the March 10, 2007 homicide of Elacio Murillo Mosquera, who despite having served as city councilman and a candidate in elections at the time was correspondent of the newspaper Chocó 7 Días in the San Juan region and conductor of the program Canalete Stereo WHEREAS there is under review in the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division a request by the Colombian Attorney General’s Office for a review of the legal proceedings that ended up with the acquittal of those who were held to be allegedly responsible for the murder of journalist Nelson Carvajal Carvajal WHEREAS inquiries aimed at identifying the masterminds of the murder of Jairo Elías Márquez, Amparo Leonor Jiménez, Ernesto Acero CAdena, Gerardo Bedoya, Carlos Lajud Catalán and Gustavo Ruiz Cantillo have not advanced WHEREAS in December 2008 two persons were murdered in Calas department who according to the Colombian Attorney General’s Office could have provided information about the masterminds of the murder of the managing editor of the newspaper La Patria de Manizales, Orlando Sierra, bringing to 11 the number of people slain in the course of the investigations who were considered to be potential witnesses who could have identified those responsible for the murder THE IAPA MIDYEAR MEETING RESOLVES to praise the decision of the team of prosecutors of the Colombian Attorney General’s Office in charge of investigations into crimes against journalists Hernando Rangel Moreno, Guzmán Quintero Torres, Francisco Castro Menco, Guillermo Bravo Vega, Jaime Rengifo, Flavio Bedoya Sarria and Julio Hernando Palacios to seek to identify and punish those responsible for these homicides to highlight the sentences handed down to those who committed the murder of José Emeterio Rivas (on April 6, 2003) and Elacio Murillo Mosquera (March 10, 2007) as sending a strong message that murdering journalists in Colombia shall not go unpunished to ask the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division to rule favorably and as soon as possible on the request made by the Colombian Attorney General’s Office for a review of the legal proceedings that ended in the acquittal of those held to be allegedly responsible for the murder of Nelson Carvajal Carvajal to ask the team of prosecutors of the Colombian Attorney General’s Office in charge of investigations into crimes against journalists to make greater effort to reactivate the action to identify the masterminds of the murder of Jairo Elías Márquez, Amparo Leonor Jiménez, Ernesto Acero CAdena, Gerardo Bedoya, Carlos Lajud Catalán and Gustavo Ruiz Cantillo to ask the Colombian Attorney General’s Office to look into the possibility of ensuring the protection of potential witnesses during the investigative process undertaken to identify the masterminds of the murder of La Patria managing editor Orlando Sierra so that they may not continue taking lives and the truth can be known as to who ordered his murder.

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