Inter American Press Association

IMPUNITY - COLOMBIA I

WHEREAS
the Seventh Penal Circuit Court acquitted the presumed perpetrators of the crime against journalist and humorist Jaime Garzón, and sentenced Carlos Castaño, head of the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia, to 38 years in prison as the person behind the crime and it is believed that some members of government agencies were involved in the crime

WHEREAS

the mayor of Barrancabermeja, Julio César Ardila, who had been captured as the alleged planner of the crime against journalist José Emeterio Rivas on April 7, 2003 was released due to the lack of evidence

WHEREAS

the judicial procedures for crimes committed against journalists Gerardo Bedoya (Cali, Valle del Cauca, March 21, 1997), Jairo Elías Márquez (Armenia, Quindío, February 10, 1997), Ernesto Acero Cadena (Armenia, Quindío, December 12, 1995), Flavio Bedoya Tovar (Tumaco, Nariño, April 27, 2001), Pablo Emilio Mota Medina (Gigante, Huila, December 3, 1999), Francisco Castro Menco (Majagual, Sucre, November 8, 1997), Gustavo Ruiz Cantillo (Piviajai, Magdalena, November 15, 2000), Álvaro Alonso Escobar ( Fundación, Magdalena, December 23, 2001), Elizabeth Obando (Roncesvalles, Tolima, July 13, 2002), Mario Prada Díaz (Sabana de Torres, July 12, 2002), Gimbler Perdomo (Gigante, Huila, December 1, 2002) and Luis Eduardo Alfonso (Arauca, March 18, 2003), among others, have made no headway toward the punishment of those responsible

WHEREAS

that in a joint effort with the Rapid Response Unit of the IAPA, the National Attorney General’s Office was able to identify the place and the status of the cases of over 50 journalists murdered in the performance of their work during the past decade

WHEREAS

a Rapid Response Unit investigation in Colombia on the judicial procedures of over 50 journalists murdered in the performance of their profession during the past decade shows that 15 of them are at a preliminary stage of evidence collection, and that another seven have been suspended in a framework of impunity that keeps claiming the lives of journalists

WHEREAS

Principle 4 of the Declaration of Chapultepec declares that “Freedom of expression and of the press are severely limited by murder, terrorism, kidnapping, pressure, intimidation, the unjust imprisonment of journalists, the destruction of facilities, violence of any kind and impunity for perpetrators. Such acts must be investigated promptly and punished harshly”

THE MIDYEAR MEETING OF THE IAPA RESOLVES

to urge the National Attorney General’s Office and other competent authorities to order the opening of a new investigation leading to the identification and punishment of the true perpetuators and of all involved in the planning of murders

to ask the National Attorney General’s Office that, after the acquittal of the mayor of Barrancabermeja, Julio César Ardila, as the alleged person behind the crime committed against journalist José Emeterio Rivas, to produce the necessary evidence allowing for the identification and punishment of those who carried out the murder

to invite again the National Attorney General’s Office to determine the reasons why there have been no results in the efforts to identify and punish those responsible for these crimes

to commend the National Attorney General’s Office for their work and for undertaking an effort to make significant progress in the next six months in order to derail the impunity with which journalists are murdered in Colombia, particularly for those who order these murders.