41 9. a. Judicial Proceedings Designed to Clarify the Events In the Ordinary Criminal Courts 185. There are two investigations on the facts of the case, pending before the UDH-FGN: 185 investigation No. 5767 (now 426) for the crime of conspiracy to commit crimes and investigation No. 186 2332 for the crime of homicide of a protected person - Marino López Mena - forced displacement and conspiracy to commit crimes. i) Criminal Investigation No. 5767 (now 426) against General (Ret.) Rito Alejo Del Río Rojas 186. On January 19, 1999, the Prosecutor General’s Office initiated a preliminary investigation against General Del Río Rojas, under case file No. 5767 (426) for complaints over his alleged acquiescence with paramilitary groups, between 1996 and 1997 while commanding the XVII Brigade. In addition, former soldier Oswaldo de Jesús Giraldo Yepes was investigated under the same 187 proceedings. On July 21, 2001, the Bogota UDH Specialized Prosecutor Lucía Margarita Luna Prada, in cooperation with the Head of the UDH-FGN, Pedro Elías Díaz Romero and in consultation with the Prosecutor General in charge, Pablo Elías González Mongui, opened an formal investigation against the General for crimes of conspiracy to commit crimes, embezzlement of military property, and corrupt practices by omission, and ordered a search of his home and his arrest. 187. In his statement, soldier Giraldo Yepes declared the paramilitary worked fifty-fifty with the Army, the tough paramilitary commanders held meetings at the Brigade with my GENERAL RITO ALEJO DEL RIO. I saw him, I was one month escorting my General RITO ALEJO DEL RIO because he was living in fear...he went with the Paramilitaries. My General used the Army's keys and gave us orders, for example at one point we had to do "this" …continuation framework of the unconstitutional state of affairs declared http://www.corteconstitucional.gov.co/relatoria/Autos/2009/A005-09.htm in Judgment T-025 of 2004. See. 185 This investigation was previously identified under numbers 1440 and 5767. Note of the Foreign Ministry, August 27, 2009, para. 170. 186 This investigation was identified in the past with case number 147301, of the 100th Prosecutor of Quibdó. Note of the Foreign Ministry, August 27, 2009, para. 170. 187 On March 10, 1999, former soldier Oswaldo Giraldo Yepes, a member of one of the battalions in Urabá commanded by General Del Río Rojas between 1996 and 1997 who was detained in the La Ceja prison (Antioquia), declared: "we arrived at Brigade 17, towards the end of 94, General Rito Alejo del Río received us, he commented and told us that we had here in Urabá the best battalion in the Army, because of this he had asked for us to go there. Around 300 of us men arrived and it was the Battalion called the Cacique Coyará Counter-Guerilla Battalion. He told us that we had to work with the paramilitaries. They established a command position in Mutatá, from where my General Rito Alejo del Río coordinated operations with Major Chinome Soto, I don't know his name, then there we also started to "legalize" civilians [..]." Annex 63. Statement of Oswaldo Giraldo Yepes, before the Regional Prosecutor of the city of Manizales on March 10, 1999. Annex 2 to the initial petition of June 1, 2004. Those men belong to Carlos Castaño. Castaño has like two thousand paramilitaries and now the two commands are linked, paramilitaries and the Army, they are not at war, they are working together, collaborating, for example, the paras get along well with the Army, during the time I was in the area, like two years, more than I was in Tierra Alta, in all I was like three and a half years, I realized that the action of the Army is worse that that of the paramilitaries. The paras work fifty-fifty with the Army. The tough, though commanders of the paramilitaries meet in the Brigade with my General Rito Alejo del Río. I've seen them, I was one month guarding my General Rito Alejo del Río, because he was living scared that suddenly the guerrillas would place an infiltrator there and would kill him ....My General used the Army's keys and gave us orders, for example at this point you have to do "this" with the cousins, the cousins know what to do for you to go with them, and referred to Massacres and "legalizations". These meetings were constant, what happened was that the paras had free entry there into the Brigade, they only said that they were going to talk to Rito Alejo and they went in. The meetings were to plan Massacres, for disappearances and "legalization" of the people and afterwards orders came from the meetings about what we had to do." Annex 63. Statement of Oswaldo Giraldo Yepes, before the Regional Prosecutor, Special Terrorist Unit. Manizales on March 10, 1999. Annex to the initial petition of June 1, 2004.