Bautista de Arellana v. Colombia

Key Judgment


Legal Relevance

Keywords: Effective Remedy | Duty to Prosecute | Punishment | Admissibility

Themes: Characteristics of the Crime | Justice and Truth | Related Crimes

The Committee found that purely disciplinary and administrative remedies cannot be deemed to constitute adequate and effective remedies. The Committee stressed that the state party is under an obligation to provide the victim’s family with an appropriate and enforceable remedy.

Judgment Date

October 27, 1995

Country

Colombia

Judicial Body

Human Rights Committee

Articles violated

Article 6(1) [ICCPR], Article 7 [ICCPR], Article 9(1) [ICCPR], Article 2(3) [ICCPR]

Articles not violated / not dealt with

Article 14 [ICCPR]

Facts of the Case

Mrs. Nydia Erika Bautista de Arellana, a member of the 19 April Movement (‘M-19’), was detained in Cali, Colombia, on 25 August 1986 by a military unit of the Third Brigade. She was allegedly kept incommunicado for three weeks and tortured during this period. Mrs. Bautista de Arellana was released afterwards. Eyewitnesses’ testimonials confirmed that she was abducted from the family home in Bogota on 30 August 1987, where she was pulled into a jeep by eight men, who were armed but dressed as civilians. An eyewitness identified the jeep's license plate. The evidence presented by a sergeant of the 20th Brigade of the military's Intelligence and Counterintelligence Unit shows that after abduction, Mrs. Bautista de Arellana had been held for two days in a farm where she was killed. Her remains were recovered on 26 July 1990.

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