CCPR/C/WG/60/DR/612/1995
page 9
1 November 1995, the psychologist issued a report on the witness's
credibility. In view of the contradictions between the witness's statements
to the prosecutor and the psychologist, the Public Prosecutor decided that the
witness lacked credibility. On 2 September 1996, he ordered the case
temporarily suspended, also pursuant to article 326 of the Code of Criminal
Procedure.
6.3
In connection with the disciplinary proceedings and the
dismissals of Lieutenant-Colonel Luis Fernando Duque Izquierdo and
Lieutenant Fernández Ocampo, they went into retirement at their own request,
on the basis of decisions of December 1991 and September 1992, as upheld by a
decision of 7 November 1996.
7.1
In his comments on the criminal proceedings, counsel states that the
proceedings have taken place in two spheres: ordinary jurisdiction and
military jurisdiction. The ordinary criminal proceedings have been conducted
in a tortuous manner: on 30 June 1992, the investigation was halted by
decision of the Valledupar High Court; on 23 March 1995, the investigation
was reopened, by decision of the Attorney-General of the Nation; on
2 September 1995, the investigation was temporarily suspended at the request
of the Seventeenth Public Prosecutor in Valledupar. In six years of
investigation, both sets of proceedings led to the closure of the case.
7.2
Counsel states that the criminal proceedings are in contrast with the
clear and forceful action taken by the Human Rights Division of the
Attorney-General's Office. In Decision No. 006 of 27 April 1992, the Human
Rights Division considered the following facts to have been substantiated:
That the indigenous leaders of the Arhuaco community, Luis Napoleón
Torres Crespo, Angel María Torres Arroyo and Antonio Hugues
Chaparro Torres, were detained on 28 November 1990 by Colombian army
units near Curumani, Department of César.
That also on 28 November, at about 10 p.m., the brothers José Vicente
and Amado Villafañe Chaparro, members of the indigenous community, and
Manuel de la Rosa Pertuz were detained in Valledupar, Department of
César, by military units headed by Lieutenant Pedro Antonio
Fernández Ocampo in an operation ordered by Military Court No. 15, and
later taken to the No. 2 Artillery Battalion “La Popa” barracks, where
they were tortured (sheets 12 and 13). That, in the view of the Human
Rights Division, “there is no doubt that Lieutenant-Colonel Duque
Izquierdo played an active role in the events under investigation”
(sheet 13).
That José Vicente Villafañe Chaparro was transported, against his will
and after being tortured, in a helicopter to a place in the mountains by
military personnel (sheets 14 and 17), where he was tortured by units of
No. 2 Artillery Battalion “La Popa”, as part of an investigation