7
the Ocaña Judicial Police went to the residence of William Rodríguez Quintero to
serve the arrest warrant against him and, finding him in public, “execute[d] his
capture and immediately read him his rights.” According to the State, the
officials were clearly marked as members of the Judicial Police. The officials then
transferred Mr. William Rodríguez Quintero to the Ocaña Basic Criminal
Investigation Unit where he signed an attestation of fair treatment. The State
similarly stressed that this arrest had its own judicial check on legality because
the following day on May 15, 2010, the hearing on the legality of the arrest was
held in which “neither Mr. [William] Rodríguez nor the delegate from the Public
Ministry were said […] to have found objections to the [legality of this arrest and
capture].” Consequently, the State reiterated that “at no point, as a consequence
of Mr. [William] Rodríguez’s capture, was the life or physical integrity of any of
the Rodríguez Quintero brothers at risk.”
17.
Additionally, the State provided information on investigations conducted
because of other events reported by the beneficiaries or their representatives.
Regarding the complaint lodged against the alleged intimidating visit on the part
of officers from the Ocaña Judicial Police on November 6, 2009, the State
indicated in its brief of April 27, 2010, that the investigation was under the
authority of the Ocaña prosecutor’s office, who had undertaken investigative
activities and had already made out two suspects, both National Police officers.8
The State added that the Ocaña prosecutor’s office had requested an interview
with the alleged victims but, according to the State, they evaded their
investigator’s repeated requests for information. Furthermore, the State provided
information as to the ongoing investigations into the grenade attack of May 19,
2009. In that regard, the State said that this investigation was the responsibility
of the First Special Prosecutor of Cúcuta and that it would be carried out jointly,
for procedural connectedness, with the investigation begun into the death of Mr.
Jhon Carlos Rodríguez Quintero. The State added that in August 2009, Mr.
Yimmy Rodriguez Quintero had requested that the Solicitor General’s office
transfer investigative responsibilities for that case to the Human Rights and
International Humanitarian Law Unit. A response from the Solicitor General was
forthcoming.
18.
For its part, the Commission considered that by virtue of the
extraordinary risk “in which the State had determined the Rodríguez Quintero
family members were exposed,” as well as the fact that portions of information
presented by the parties were contradictory, it was necessary to maintain the
provisional measures in place. The Commission also stressed that the State’s
submissions did not constitute the “concrete and detailed information [requested
as to] each beneficiary nor […] the risk assessment previously sought by the […]
Court.” Thus, the Commission indicated that “[t]he implementation of these
protective measures, together with an investigation into the origin of the
extraordinary risk that the beneficiaries face,” were crucial to avoiding the
occurrence of irreparable harm to the Rodríguez Quintero family.
*
8
*
*
In a previous report dated November 23, 2009 (supra Having Seen clause three), the State
had declared that said police agents “at no point threatened or intimidated Yimmy Rodríguez, but
were only following orders as part of a criminal investigation headed by the Solicitor General’s office
against William Rodríguez Quintero for the crime of theft.” Nonetheless, the State indicated that “for
the sake of transparency” and in fulfillment of its obligation in the face of a complaint, it sent a report
to the office of Complaint Assessment and Reporting so that they could study to feasibility of initiating
a disciplinary investigation.