298

REPORT Nº 47/08

PETITION 864-05

ADMISSIBILITY

LUIS GONZALO “RICHARD” VÉLEZ RESTREPO AND FAMILY

COLOMBIA

July 24, 2008

I.  SUMMARY

1.  On July 29, 2005, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (hereinafter, “the Inter-American Commission” or “the IACHR”) received a complaint lodged by Mr. Luis Gonzalo Vélez Restrepo – also known as Richard Vélez – and Aracelly Román Amariles (hereinafter “the petitioners”), on their own behalf and that of their children, Mateo Vélez Román and Juliana Vélez Román (hereinafter “the children” and jointly “the Vélez family,” “the petitioners,” or “the alleged victims”), claiming the responsibility of agents of the Republic of Colombia (hereinafter, “the State” or “Colombia”) for an August 29, 1996, attack which occurred in the municipality of Morelia, Caquetá department, and was allegedly perpetrated by the National Colombian Army against Mr. Luis Gonzalo Vélez Restrepo as he filmed a peasant protest against the destruction of coca crops.

2.  The petitioners claim that the attack left Mr. Vélez Restrepo unconscious and he was hospitalized with a perforated liver, severe blood loss, severe damage to one testicle, several broken ribs, and multiple injuries to the abdomen and legs. They further claim that following the attack, Mr. Vélez Restrepo and his family received death threats, that on October 6, 1997, Luis Gonzalo Vélez Restrepo was the victim of an “attempted forced disappearance,” and that neither the attack nor the threats were adequately investigated. They also indicated that as a result of the alleged events, Mr. Vélez Restrepo had to censor his own work, his professional life was altered, he had to change his residence within Colombia and later seek asylum in the United States on October 9, 1997, where his children and wife joined him approximately one year later.

3.  They assert that these events constitute a violation of Articles 4 (right to life), 5 (right to personal integrity), 7 (right to personal liberty), 13 (right to freedom of thought and expression), 11 (right to honor), 17 (protection of the family), 19 (rights of the child), 22 (freedom of movement and residence), 8 (right to a fair trial) and 25 (judicial protection) of the American Convention in relation to Articles 1(1) and 2 of the Convention.

4.  In relation to the admissibility of the complaint, the petitioners claim that the Colombian state has failed to fulfill its duty to investigate, prosecute and punish the perpetrators of the violations since the domestic remedies used were ineffective to remedy the infringed legal situation, which they assert constitutes one of the exceptions to the requirement of prior exhaustion of domestic remedies set forth in Article 46.2 of the American Convention.

5.  The State, for its part, claimed that the petitioners’ complaint does not satisfy the admissibility requirements set forth in Article 46 of the ACHR concerning the existence of international litispendence, since the case is still being processed before the United Nations Human Rights Committee. The State further claimed a failure to respect the time frame for presenting the petition, for which it requested that the petition be declared inadmissible in accordance with the provisions of paragraphs 1(b) and (c) of Article 46 of the Convention.

6.  After examining the positions of the parties, the Commission concludes that it is competent to decide the complaint lodged by the petitioners and that the petition is admissible under Articles 46 and 47 of the American Convention. As a result, the Commission decides to notify the parties of its decision and to proceed to examine the merits of the alleged violations of the rights to personal integrity (Article 5), freedom of thought and expression (Article 13), protection of the family (Article 17.1), the rights of the child (Article 19), freedom of movement and residence (Article 22), a fair trial (Article 8) and judicial protection (Article 25) of the American Convention in relation to the general obligations enshrined in Articles 1(1) and 2 of that instrument. The Commission also decides to publish this decision and include it in its Annual Report to the General Assembly of the OAS.

II.  PROCESS BEFORE THE COMMISSION

7.  The petition was presented before the Executive Secretariat of the Inter-American Commission on July 29, 2005, and was assigned the number P-864-05. In the petition initial development, the IACHR request additional information to the petitioners which was received on June 12 and October 4, 2006.

8.  The IACHR, on February 22, 2007, forwarded the pertinent portions to the State requesting that it submit its response within a two month period. On May 29, 2007, following an extension, the State submitted its response concerning the admissibility of the petition.

9.  On August 24, 2007, the Commission forwarded to the petitioners the response of the State of Colombia and requested it to submit its observations within one month.

10.  On November 14, 2007, the petitioners submitted their observations, following an extension, and these were forwarded to the State on December 18, 2007, with a one month period in which to submit its observations. On January 18, 2008, the State submitted its final observations.

III.  POSITION OF THE PARTIES

A.  The petitioners

Attacks suffered by Mr. Luis Gonzalo Vélez Restrepo

11.  The petitioners claim that on August 29, 1996, Mr. Luis Gonzalo Vélez Restrepo, in the course of his work as a journalist and cameraman for the news program Colombia 12:30, went to the town of Morelia, Caquetá department, to cover peaceful demonstrations by peasants protesting efforts to eradicate coca leaf crops in the area.

12.  They assert that on that date, a torrential rainstorm flooded the precarious peasant encampments and they wanted to cross a bridge guarded by Infantry Battalion No. 36 of the Twelfth Brigade of the National Army. As they attempted to do so, battalion troops began to fire on them, brutally beat them, and fire off tear gas to block their advance. Mr. Vélez Restrepo, who was filming the event, was intercepted by soldiers from the same battalion, who demanded that he hand over the film from his camera, while insulting him and holding a gun to his head. They state that when Mr. Vélez Restrepo refused to hand over the film, they began to beat him with their rifle butts, kick him, and yell, “Give us the damned film.” The camera was destroyed in the attack but the incident was recorded and later broadcast in Colombia and throughout the world. They indicate that this attack occurred in the context of a pattern of attacks on journalists and the impunity of the perpetrators.

13.  They state that Mr. Luis Gonzalo Vélez Restrepo lost consciousness after the attack and was rushed to Hospital Inmaculada María de Florencia and subsequently transferred to the Clínica Asistir in Bogota, where he remained for two days and required an additional 15 days of convalescence at home. They assert that as a result of the attack he suffered a perforated liver, heavy blood loss, a destroyed testicle, several broken ribs, and multiple contusions on the abdomen and legs.

Threats, harassment and intimidation, attempted kidnapping, and subsequent forced exile

14.  They assert that the threats and acts of harassment and intimidation began a couple of weeks after the August 1996 attack on Mr. Vélez Restrepo in Caquetá. The claim that they received a series of telephone calls in which the journalist and his family were threatened with death. They added that on some occasions unknown individuals knocked on the door of the Vélez family home when Mr. Luis Gonzalo Vélez Restrepo was not there, pretending to be officials from the Public Prosecutor’s Office [Procuraduría] and trying to obtain information about the journalist’s schedule.

15.  They affirm that the threats intensified dramatically after Mr. Vélez Restrepo testified before a military court in late September 1996, concerning the attacks against him and a group of peasants in Caquetá (see infra paras. 26-29). They mentioned the following threats against Mr. Vélez Restrepo: “you’re going to die, you son of a bitch,” “…you have the power of information but we have the power of weapons. You’re going to die, dog.” They also related the following specific threats, as among those made against his wife and family: “you’re very pretty; I’m going to make you a widow,” and “I’m going to get rid of that pair of bastards of yours,” referring to their children.

16.  They claim that due to the threats and harassment, Mr. Vélez approached the Office of the Public Prosecutor and the Office of the Attorney General, but neither institution initiated the relevant investigations. Because of this he had to change his residence. They assert that the threats stopped temporarily after Mr. Vélez Restrepo reported the harassment to two influential government officials.

17.  They state that, despite the temporary respite, the death threats resumed and intensified after Mr. Vélez Restrepo testified in July 1997 before the Prosecutor General of the Nation about the incidents during the protest in Caquetá and the threats against Mr. Vélez Restrepo and his family. They indicate that the death threats were aimed at convincing him not to testify against the army. They assert that due to these incidents, Mr. Vélez Restrepo reported the new threats to the Attorney General’s Office, which told him that his reports would be included in a broader investigation currently underway against certain military officials and that no action against them would be taken in the short term, if at all.

18.  They claim that in addition to the threatening telephone calls and visits, an unknown man on a motorcycle took photographs of their son, Mateo, at school. They state that Mr. Vélez Restrepo took his son out of school and the family was virtually living in hiding. They assert that Mr. Vélez Restrepo recognized military personnel among his attackers on different occasions.

19.  They indicate that due to the aforementioned incidents, they tried again to request the protection of the State which, through the Office of the Presidential Advisor on Human Rights, registered them in the Ministry of the Interior’s Program for the Protection of Witnesses and Threatened Persons in Cases of Human Rights Violations, relocated the petitioner and his family, and provided them with police protection and a bullet-proof vest. However, they claim that those authorities did not notify the competent legal authorities of the threats and acts of harassment against the petitioners.

20.  They assert that the death threats and harassment against the family culminated with an “attempted forced disappearance” on October 6, 1997, as Mr. Vélez Restrepo was walking to work. They state that a taxi stopped and a man armed with a pistol forced Mr. Vélez Restrepo to get into the vehicle, but that he fortunately was able to escape his attackers. Mr. Vélez Restrepo contends that he recognized military personnel among them.

21.  They assert that as a result of the threats, acts of harassment and intimidation, and the “attempted forced disappearance”, Mr. Vélez Restrepo’s professional career also was affected since he had to self-censor his journalist work and, later, has to leave its country.

22.  They indicate that by the same reasons stated in the preceding paragraph, Mrs. Aracelly Román, Mr. Vélez Restrepo’s wife, had to affect her professional life since she was forced to stop her studies and the children had to stop attending school temporarily. On account of these events, the children experienced terrible fear and anxiety, and this was intensified by the fact that they were unable to live a normal childhood. The family had to seek individual and marriage psychotherapy.

23.  They assert that because of the “attempted forced disappearance”, on October 9, 1997, Mr. Vélez Restrepo left Colombia to seek asylum in the United States, as his life was in immediate danger. They indicate that in 1998 he was granted political asylum along with his family, which had stayed behind in Medellín until September 12, 1998.

24.  They claim that the petitioners feel as if they are living in a borrowed country, far from family and friends, adding that in Colombia they were financially secure, owned their own home, and that Mr. Vélez Restrepo went from being part of an elite group of Colombian journalists to a situation of protracted unemployment in a strange land.

Proceedings in the domestic jurisdiction

25.  They indicate that because of the physical assaults perpetrated against Mr. Vélez Restrepo on August 29, 1996, the subsequent threats, acts of harassment and intimidation against him and his family, and the presumed “attempted forced disappearance” to which he was subjected, they initiated proceedings in different jurisdictions, none of which ultimately was effective.

26.  They affirm that the following proceedings were initiated in relation to the aforementioned incidents: a) a military criminal proceeding for the attacks against the peasants and against Mr. Vélez Restrepo in Caquetá in 1996; b) a disciplinary proceeding before the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation for the physical attacks against Mr. Luis Gonzalo Vélez Restrepo in Caquetá in 1996; c) a disciplinary proceeding before the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation for the threats and acts of harassment and intimidation against Mr. Luis Gonzalo Vélez Restrepo and his family; d) a pre-trial administrative conciliation procedure before an Administrative-Contentious Court for the presentation of a request by the petitioners; and e) an ordinary criminal proceeding in the investigation stage before the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation.