Circuit of Bogota would be responsible for the proceedings for abduction accompanied by forced disappearance. 233 F.2.a) Proceedings against the Commander of the Cavalry School 175. On June 9, 2010, the Third Criminal Court of the Special Circuit of Bogota handed down a guilty verdict against the Commander of the Cavalry School, as indirect co-author of aggravated disappearance of eleven of the presumed victims in this case, sentencing him to 30 years’ imprisonment. 234 The court established that: As soon as the security forces […] were able to enter the Palace of Justice, they began to perform intelligence work aimed, among other matters, at establishing the identity of the civilians who were there and who were being evacuated from the site. At that time, a group of survivors were categorized as “special” or “suspicious,” and they would subsequently be treated differently. 235 176. In the same judgment, in the part relating to “Other determinations,” the court ordered that certified copies of the case file be made so that the following could be investigated: (i) the security forces’ supposed prior knowledge of the intention of M-19 to take the Palace of Justice on November 6, 1985; (ii) the possible extrajudicial executions of which some of the hostages of the Palace of Justice and the M-19 subversives might have been victims, and (iii) the President at the time of the events, as well as the other members of the Armed Forces’ chain of command at the time, who would have taken part operation at the Palace of Justice, and the members of the National Police and of the State’s security agencies who intervened in the operation. It also ordered an investigation of the direct perpetrators, the indirect co-authors, and the participants in the disappearances established in the judgment. 236 177. The defense of the Commander of the Cavalry School and the Public Prosecution Service both appealed the first instance decision. On January 30, 2012, the Superior Court of Bogota confirmed the sentence of 30 years’ imprisonment for the forced disappearance of two of the presumed victims (Carlos Augusto Rodríguez Vera and Irma Franco Pineda). However, it partially annulled the first instance decision as regards the forced disappearance of the other presumed victims. 237 In this regard, it indicated that: The probative elements described establish that the survivors of the Palace of Justice were, indeed, taken to military garrisons, including the facilities of the Cavalry School, where the details of all of them were taken, and some of them were subjected to torture, and subsequently disappeared, […] which allows the court to conclude that the [Commander of the Cavalry School] was part of an illegal organized power structure that designed and executed the disappearance of Irma Franco Pineda and Carlos Augusto Rodríguez Vera. 178. Regarding the other disappeared persons, that court concluded that: 233 Cf. Ruling of March 14, 2008, on assignment to the courts of the Bogota Circuit owing to the separation of the proceedings (evidence file, folio 24749), and Report of the Truth Commission (evidence file, folio 282). 234 The Commander of the Cavalry School was convicted in first instance of the forced disappearance of: (1) Carlos Augusto Rodríguez Vera, (2) Cristina del Pilar Guarín Cortés, (3) Bernardo Beltrán Hernández, (4) David Suspes Celis, (5) Gloria Stella Lizarazo Figueroa, (6) Gloria Anzola de Lanao, (7) Norma Constanza Esguerra Forero, (8) Luz Mary Portela León, (9) Irma Franco Pineda, (10) Héctor Jaime Beltrán Fuentes and (11) Lucy Amparo Oviedo Bonilla. Cf. Judgment of the Third Criminal Court of the Bogota Special Circuit of June 9, 2010 (evidence file, folios 24105 and 24120). 235 Cf. Judgment of the Third Criminal Court of the Bogota Special Circuit of June 9, 2010 (evidence file, folios 23949, 23956 and 23957). 236 Cf. Judgment of the Third Criminal Court of the Bogota Special Circuit of June 9, 2010 (evidence file, folios 24117 and 24118). 237 The Superior Court of Bogota stated that the presumptions for nullity established in article 306 of the Code of Criminal Procedure are: “(1) lack of competence of the judicial official; (2) the proven existence of substantial irregularities that impair due process, and (3) the violation of the right of defense.” Judgment of the Superior Court of Bogota of January 30, 2012 (evidence file, folios 23283, 23284, 23388, 23449 and 23450). 60