A/HRC/10/32
page 15
51. Clearly, then, far fewer individuals will be tried under this Act than originally foreseen.
Further, not all those facing charges are accused of serious crimes covered by the Act and, above
all, it is by no means certain that all demobilized individuals who have committed serious crimes
have been charged. Unfortunately, just over three years after the Act was adopted, the
expectations it raised have yet to be met.22
52. The versión libre stage has brought to light a number of events that have allowed the
Attorney-General’s Office to initiate or reopen investigations of cases that were previously left
unaddressed.23 These cases include several relating to senior public officials allegedly linked
with paramilitary groups, and others in which the victims were trade unionists or members of the
Union Patriótica party.24 Other cases, however, remain unpunished, due to the refusal of those
facing charges under the Justice and Peace Act to cooperate fully with other units of the
Attorney-General’s Office. This demonstrates the urgent need to review the Act, in order, for
instance, to compel those facing charges to provide all the information they may have in a
timely manner and enable the Attorney-General’s Office to bring other individuals to justice.
OHCHR Colombia urges the Government to consider reforms that would improve and accelerate
the implementation of the Justice and Peace Act.
53. One concrete outcome of the implementation of the Act is the exhumation of unmarked
graves, and other places where victims of the paramilitaries have been disposed of, as well as the
recovery of human remains. According to the Attorney-General’s Office, during 2008 over
410 unmarked graves were found and the remains of over 560 victims recovered, making an
estimated total of 1,420 graves and 1,750 remains recovered since the start of the versión libre
proceedings. However, an additional effort is still required to accelerate the proper identification
and handover of the remains to the families, in accordance with recognized international
standards. The international community should also increase its support to the Colombian
authorities to resolve this particular issue. At the time of writing, the remains of only 249 victims
had been delivered to the families.
54. The extradition in May 2008 of 13 of the most prominent demobilized paramilitary leaders
to the United States on drug trafficking charges caused concern among victims, who feared that
those extradited would have no incentive to continue helping establish the truth and making
reparations. So far, only two of them have been sentenced in the United States, to more than
20 years in prison. In this respect, it is imperative that mechanisms for judicial cooperation be
22
As of March 2008, there were a total of 50,505 demobilized individuals; of those, 35,263 had
been collectively demobilized from paramilitary organizations (3,592 were in prison and
31,671 at liberty) and 15,242 had been individually demobilized from illegal armed groups
(paramilitary organizations or guerrilla groups).
23
Under the Act, the National Justice and Peace Unit has referred 2,098 cases to other units
within the Attorney-General’s Office.
24
The Union Patriótica party was founded by FARC-EP in 1985 as part of peace negotiations
with the Government.
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