Vereda La Esperanza v. Colombia

Key Judgment


Legal Relevance

Keywords: Judicial Protection | Relatives as Victims | Right to Know the Truth | Effective Remedy

Themes: Justice and Truth | Related Crimes

The Court confirmed that the events occurred with the support and acquiescence provided by agents of the security forces to the paramilitary group. The State acknowledged its international responsibility for the failure to guarantee the rights to recognition as a person before the law; life; personal integrity; and personal liberty of 12 disappeared victims, including three children. After having considered the Prosecutor’s Office’s approach to the disappearance (namely, its use of a “prioritisation” mechanism in the case), the Court concluded that the Office had not proceeded with the investigation inappropriately. The Court also concluded that it did not have sufficient evidence before it to conclude that the State lacked a differential approach to gender and the children in the investigations. Among its reparations, the Court ordered the State to make a public act of acknowledgement of international responsibility.

Judgment Date

July 31, 2017

Country

Colombia

Judicial Body

Inter-American Court of Human Rights

Articles violated

Article 1(1) [ACHR], Article 3 [ACHR], Article 4 [ACHR], Article 4(1) [ACHR], Article 5(1) [ACHR], Article 5(2) [ACHR], Article 7 [ACHR], Article 8(1) [ACHR], Article 19 [ACHR], Article 25 [ACHR]

Articles not violated / not dealt with

Article 8(1) [ACHR], Article 3 [IACFDP]

Facts of the Case

Between 21 June and 27 December 1996, 12 people were disappeared and one was brutally deprived of his life in the village of La Esperanza, in Antioquia. The events were perpetrated by the paramilitary group known as the Autodefensas del Magdalena Medio (Self-Defence Forces of Magdalena Medio) with the support and acquiescence of the security forces.

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