A/HRC/13/72
Torture, other inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
The existing data does not seem to reflect either the magnitude or the real impact of
the violation. The cases below are a few examples of the seriousness of the situation:
(a)
On 26 January, more than 260 inmates from the Bellavista prison (Medellín)
were ordered out of their cells by members of the National Police and the Penitentiary
Guards. Around 150 inmates were separated from the group and sent to two different
locations within the prison, where they were allegedly held in overcrowded conditions with
no access to water, food, toilets and toilette facilities;
(b)
On 9 February, it was reported that two handcuffed youths were doused with
gasoline and burned alive in a police station in Bogotá;
(c)
In Plato (Magdalena), it was reported that, on 21 June, two detained youths
were beaten and threatened to death in the police station;
(d)
On 26 August, in Medellín (Antioquia), two youths who had been arrested by
members of the National Police suffered physical and verbal assaults, cigarette burns, and
injuries produced with a steel can, and were doused with aerosol spray on their faces and
bodies;
(e)
In Mesetas (Meta), on 15 November, a youth was illegally detained and
allegedly tortured by three National Police officers, who suffocated him by covering his
head with a plastic bag.
Enforced disappearance
Enforced disappearance continues to be a major concern of OHCHR-Colombia.
Most of the situations remain unsolved, and their perpetrators and motives unidentified.
Below are illustrative cases of this violation:
(a)
On 15 February, a woman, member of the trade union SINTRAGRIM,
disappeared in Miravalles, El Castillo (Meta), after having denounced that civilians had
been ill-treated by members of the Army Battalion 21 Vargas;
(b)
On 26 March, in Medellín (Antioquia), a man disappeared after having been
arrested by National Police officers allegedly for not carrying ownership documents of the
motorcycle he was riding. There is no record of him having been transferred to the police
station and he was allegedly handed over to a criminal gang;
(c)
On 29 May, in Itaguí (Antioquia), three women were arrested and handed
over to a criminal gang, presumably by National Police officers.
Illegal armed groups that have emerged after the demobilization of
paramilitary organizations
OHCHR-Colombia notes with great concern the expansion, increasing activities and
violence against civilians perpetrated by illegal armed groups that emerged after
demobilization of paramilitary organizations, as illustrated below:
(a)
On 1 March, five members of the same family, including a man with a
disability, a woman and two children aged 2 and 8, were killed in Patía (Cauca),
presumably by members of the illegal armed group “Los Rastrojos”;
26
GE.10-11819
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