2024-05-03 02:43:59
The Peace Tribunal concluded that members of the former FARC-EP secretariat, identified as the main perpetrators, committed crimes against humanity, including torture, sexual violence, forced displacement and slavery.
Diario del Huila, Panorama
This development occurs within the framework of Case 01, entitled “Hostage taking, serious deprivations of liberty and other concurrent crimes committed by the FARC-EP”, after the evaluation of the correspondence as stipulated in Law 1922 of 2018.
The First Instance Section for Cases of Recognition of Truth and Responsibility of the JEP determined that the members of the former FARC-EP secretariat are responsible for crimes against humanity, including slavery and serious deprivations of liberty, among others.
The court concluded that the FARC-EP leaders, in their kidnapping strategy, carried out acts of slavery as part of a widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population. These acts were characterized by control and abuse over the victims, as well as their inability to change their situation due to coercion and threats.
The Recognition Section of the JEP confirmed that the victims were forced to perform forced labor as punishment or to benefit the organization, without their consent and under threats of death or danger to their integrity.
Damage to victims
After declaring the correspondence, the Section found that the former FARC-EP guerrilla adopted policies of deprivation of liberty whose purposes were: financing; force the exchange for imprisoned guerrillas; and control territories and populations, which led to profound effects on Colombian society, but, particularly, on girls, boys, older adults, pregnant women and other vulnerable people.
The direct and indirect victims of the aforementioned criminal patterns documented by the Chamber of Recognition of Truth and Responsibility suffered impairment of their rights in a material and immaterial dimension. This means that there was a loss of assets and life projects, as well as human relationships. Furthermore, the victims suffered serious consequences to their physical, psychological, mental and moral integrity, as a consequence of the mistreatment and concurrent crimes suffered during the kidnapping.
The humiliations did not end there, they also suffered from stigmatization during and after their deprivation of liberty, in association with kidnapping as a form of punishment.
The correspondence
During the correspondence analysis, the Recognition Section exercised a legality control (formal-material) to what was expressed and provided by the Recognition Chamber in the Resolution of Conclusions No. 2 of the JEP.
As such, it was an examination of the sufficiency of the evidence on the patterns of
macrocriminality, while the transitional judge ensured that the logical, progressive and conceptual sequence of the facts, the recognized conduct, the legal qualification, the most responsible and the sanction proposals revolved around the same conceptual axis and in a framework of legality that may allow the Court to reach a sentence consistent with its powers.
That is, all this analysis will allow the Peace Tribunal to reach this procedural stage with a consistent sentence. This decision represents a significant step in the search for justice that the victims, their families and society have demanded, in addition to contributing to the construction of the path for reparation and restoration.
Regarding reparation, the Section considered that this must be carried out collectively in order to make reparation mechanisms viable that guarantee the restoration of the social fabric.
The Court, despite recognizing that the Chamber made valuable efforts in seeking to identify the main effects of the victims accredited in Case 01, considered that it is necessary to expand and detail the collective effects and complement the action taken by the Chamber, an issue that will be assumed by the Court in order to guarantee the restorative component of the sanctions, in any case, before issuing the sentence of merit that puts an end to Case 01.
The appearing
Rodrigo Londono Echeverriknown as Timochenko during the armed conflict: He was the last commander in chief of the FARC-EP from the death of ‘Alfonso Cano’ in 2011 until the signing of the Final Peace Agreement in 2016.
During his mandate, he stood out for leading the peace negotiations with the government of Juan Manuel Santos (2010-2018). Londoño was responsible as coordinator of the Magdalena Medio Block and member of the FARC-EP Secretariat since the 1980s.
Pastor Lisandro Alape Lascarroknown as Pastor Alape: He was commander of the Magdalena Medio Block of the FARC-EP from its creation in 1993 until the signing of the Final Peace Agreement in 2016.
He is accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including kidnapping and serious deprivation of liberty.
Milton de Jesús Toncel Redondoknown as Joaquín Gómez: He was commander of the Southern Block of the FARC-EP from 1993 until his return to civilian life.
He was a member of the Secretariat since 2008 and the Central General Staff since 2005. He was accused of and acknowledged responsibilities for war crimes and crimes against humanity during his period in command.
Jaime Alberto Parra Rodríguezknown as Mauricio Jaramillo or the Doctor: He was commander of the Eastern Bloc of the FARC-EP from 2010 to 2016.
Before, since 1993, he was part of the General Staff of said bloc and was its second commander between 2003 and 2006. The Chamber charged him and he acknowledged responsibility for various crimes committed under his command.
Julián Gallo Cubillos, known as Carlos Antonio Losada: He served underground in the FARC-EP from 1984 to 2007, organizing urban networks in Bogotá and later in San Vicente del Caguán.
He was charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity related to hostage-taking and deprivation of liberty.
Pablo Catatumbo Torres Victoriaknown as Pablo Catatumbo: He was commander of the Alirio Torres Mobile Column and member of the General Staff of the ‘Arturo Ruiz’ Mobile Block.
During his guerrilla career, he was assigned to key roles in the west of the country. The Chamber held him responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Rodrigo Granda Escobarknown as Ricardo Téllez: Member of the Central General Staff since 1993, in 2004 he was appointed to the Caribbean Block General Staff.
In 2011, he was promoted to deputy Secretariat. He was charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity, related to the kidnapping policy implemented by the FARC-EP.
The sanction
The JEP opened case 01 on July 4, 2018 and in its investigative process has managed to identify 21,396 kidnapping victims. On January 26, 2021, the JEP’s Truth and Responsibility Recognition Chamber charged the former FARC-EP secretariat with the crime against humanity of serious deprivation of liberty and the war crime of hostage-taking, among others. From there, the macro case was renamed: “Hostage taking and other serious deprivations of liberty.”
In June 2022, in the recognition hearing held in Bogotá by seven members of the secretariat of the extinct Farc-EP, they individually and collectively assumed their responsibility as co-authors of hostage-taking, serious deprivation of liberty, and homicides, as well as as the command responsibility of each one, according to their command history before the victims, the Jurisdiction and the country.
On November 24, 2022, the Recognition Chamber issued the Resolution of Conclusions on Case 01. Two months later, in January 2023, the Peace Court assumed jurisdiction to hear and begin the trial phase of the JEP.
Now, after the Recognition Section had determined the correspondence regarding the facts, the recognized conduct, the evidence gathered, the legal qualifications made, those responsible, the sanction proposals, and having analyzed the contributions to the truth and the reparation, the Peace Court will order a verification hearing.
The accredited victims of Case 01, the appearing parties and the Public Ministry will participate in this hearing. It will be a judicial space for the Section to verify that the contribution to the truth and the form of reparation are fulfilled, within the framework of the Comprehensive System for Peace; Based on this, the duration of the sanction itself, which makes up the component of restriction of rights, freedoms and the restorative component, will be determined.
These will range between 5 and 8 years and will be verified and monitored by the Section with the participation of the United Nations.