Senior army officer convicted over Colombia disappearances

[Judi Lynn]

AI Index: PRE 01/189/2010
09 June 2010
Senior army officer convicted over Colombia disappearances

Amnesty International called on the Colombian authorities to ensure justice for all victims of a 1985 hostage situation at the Palace of Justice in Bogotá, which left over 100 people dead, following today's landmark sentencing of a senior army officer for human rights violations.

"With this groundbreaking ruling the victims' families, who for almost a quarter of a century have campaigned for justice, have begun to break the silence that has for so long protected those responsible," said Marcelo Pollack, Colombia researcher at Amnesty International.

Luis Alfonso Plazas Vega faces 30 years in prison for the disappearance of 11 people in November 1985, when military forces stormed the headquarters of the judiciary where members of the 19th April Movement guerrilla group were holding those inside hostage.

"The Colombian authorities tried to bury the truth about the Palace of Justice despite overwhelming evidence that members of the security forces orchestrated the enforced disappearance, torture and execution of some of those inside," said Marcelo Pollack.

"While there has been progress in several high profile criminal investigations into human rights violations committed by the security forces, these have largely been the result of intense international pressure," said Marcelo Pollack.

"The majority of victims of abuses committed during the Palace of Justice siege, either by the security forces or the guerrilla, have yet to see justice."

The Constitutional Court ruled in 1997 that human rights violations implicating members of the security force should be investigated by the civilian justice system.

Despite this ruling, military courts continue to seek jurisdiction over key cases where members of the security forces are implicated, while routinely failing to effectively investigate serious human rights violations committed by security officials.

"The investigation into Luis Alfonso Plazas Vega was repeatedly delayed because of efforts by the military justice system to claim jurisdiction over the case," said Marcelo Pollack.

"These attempts only serve to sustain a culture of impunity, denying justice for the victims," said Marcelo Pollack.

Those involved in the investigation and the trial, including the judge presiding over the case and a lawyer representing the victims, have repeatedly received death threats.

An appeal will follow today's verdict while investigations are underway into retired army generals Iván Ramírez Quintero and Jesús Armando Arias Cabrales; and former army colonel Edilberto Sánchez Rubian, for their alleged responsibility in the 11 Palace of Justice disappearances.

http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?id=ENGPRE011892010&lang=e&rss=recentnews

[rabs]

1. Uribe called emergency meeting today with armed forces chief.

Which indicates milicos are very, very unhappy.

http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/10195-uribe-calls-for-emergency-meeting-with-military-after-30-year-sentence-for-general.html

Don't know if you have seen that uribe has proposed that the judicary should come under the executive branch. I fear that may come to be under santos.

[Judi Lynn]

2. I knew he was furious with that court, has been warring against it, but didn't grasp he seeks

to bring it under the control of the President. That's insane, and it's so blatant.

If Santos goes in that direction as well, and he seems every bit as treacherous as Uribe, it will be an unbelievable setback, a nightmare for Colombian citizens.

Can't imagine how the White House could continue to be blind to something that horrendous, after all the evil it has deliberately overlooked already from the Colombian government in order to retain it as its launchpad for aggression on other countries.

It would be forcing the U.S. government OUT of the comfort of the closet on the human rights issue, out into the open. It should become a rallying point for dissent from U.S. people of conscience.

[rabs]

3. Supreme Court president appeals for international support

and asked Colombian citizens to protect the judges in the face of death and others threats the court members are receiving. A communique issued by court president Arrubla Paucar and signed unanimously by all the judges did not mention uribe by name; instead it mentions "other powers."

Paucar again expressed his support of (lower penal court) Judge Maria Stella Jara, who sentenced retired Col. Alfonso Plazas Vega to 30 years in prison for the "forced disappearance" of 11 civilians during the takeover of the ministry of justice.

http://www.elespectador.com/noticias/judicial/articulo-207821-corte-suprema-pide-ayuda-comunidad-internacional


The separation of powers in Colombia is what is at stake here.

[Judi Lynn]

4. It's hard to imagine they can feel safe trusting anyone now. Any security people they get

could very likely be working for Uribe, after all.

It would be horrid being in any of their shoes. Hope they will survive Uribe's Presidency, and the next one.