Amaury Padilla (on the left), a victim of legal persecution, together with

In the report Baseless prosecutions of human rights defenders in Colombia. In the dock and under the gun, Human Rights First (HRF) analyses 32 cases of individuals who are currently under investigation or who have been investigated in the past, reaching the conclusion that in Colombia human rights defenders are «singled out for particular intimidation through baseless investigations and prosecutions.» For this organisation, «in a criminal justice system plagued by impunity, the tenacity with which Colombian prosecutors pursue human rights defenders for supposed crimes is striking.» One of the aggravating factors highlighted in the report is that these baseless charges against human rights defenders that accuse them of rebellion or of belonging to guerrilla organisations, «are often widely publicized, undermining the credibility of defenders and marking them as targets for physical attack, often by paramilitary groups.» In addition to placing defenders at risk, these «proceedings force defenders to expend time and resources defending themselves, diminishing their capacity to perform productive human rights work». The report recalls the words of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, who declared that such «proceedings are part of a strategy to silence human rights defenders.»1

The report emphasises the illegitimate nature of these investigations, which at times last up to two years, and the use of «false testimony from excombatants. »The report also refers to the use of «testimony which has been coerced or coached by regional prosecutors» and «inadmissible intelligence files» in legal proceedings. In terms of the testimonies of excombatants, the report highlights the fact that, «Colombian superior court jurisprudence, including from the Constitutional Court, states that the testimony from such witnesses must be treated suspiciously because it comes from witnesses who are not impartial.»

Of the 32 cases of human rights defenders presented by HRF, 11 are related to members of organisations accompanied by PBI Colombia. Several others are related to organisations close to PBI who have been accompanied on occasion by the organisation, as in the case of Carmelo Agámez (Technical Secretary of the Sucre section of the Movement of Victims of State Crimes) or in the case of Teofilo Acuña (President of the Southern Bolivar Agricultural-Mining Federation – FEDAGROMISBOL) . In a special Amnesty International report on human rights defenders in the Americas2 published in 2003, the organisation highlights the fact that «the degree of difficulties and attacks faced by human rights defenders often reflects the pervasiveness of human rights violations at large. The key behind attacks on human rights defenders is the need of the perpetrators of human rights violations to cover up their crimes in order to escape prosecution.» As far back as 2003, Amnesty International was highlighting the spectacular rise in the number of cases of false criminal accusations brought against human rights activists. The report also emphasised the routine and generalised nature of secret surveillance operations, police searches of the offices of non governmental organisations, and theft of information from their offices which in some instances was used in subsequent investigations.

The Human Rights First report concludes by highlighting the possible role that the United States government could play in «combating malicious prosecutions of human rights defenders» given that the US is the principal financial supporter of judicial reform in Colombia.

FOOTNOTES

1 Human Rights First, febrero de 2009

2 »Informe de la Misión a Colombia de la Representante Especial del Secretario General sobre la cuestión de los defensores de los derechos humanos», Hina Jilani, Órganos de las Naciones Unidas, E/CN.4/2002/106/Add.2.24

3 «Actores esenciales de nuestro tiempo: los defensores de los derechos humanos en América», Amnistía Internacional, 2003