10
17.
That it is appropriate to recall that, in the terms of the Judgment,11 for the
effective compliance of this obligation the State shall: a) remove all the obstacles, de
facto y de jure, that maintain impunity; b) use all available means to expedite the
investigation and the respective proceedings, and c) grant adequate guarantees of
security to the next of kin of the persons disappeared and deprived of life,
investigators, witnesses, human rights defenders, judicial employees, prosecutors and
other agents of the justice system, as well as to the former and actual inhabitants of
Pueblo Bello. Similarly, the State was required to adopt the administrative, legislative
and any other pertinent measures to ensure that the human rights violations
committed were investigated effectively in proceedings in which all judicial rights are
granted so as to combat the partial impunity that exists in this case and, thus, avoid
the repetition of such serious events as those that occurred in the Pueblo Bello
massacre. The State had to inform the Court, every six months, of the measures
adopted in this regard and, specifically, of the results obtained, as well as publicly
disseminate the results of those proceedings, in order to inform the Colombian society
of the truth regarding the facts of the present case.
18.
That the Court considers that an impunity still subsists in the present case, in
the measure that the whole truth regarding the facts has not been determined,
specially in what refers to the identification and possible punishment of the responsible
planners and perpetrators. The Tribunal hopes that the difficulties that have arisen in
the implementation of this measure of reparation, as well as the concerns expressed,
can be overcome as soon as possible in order to effectively and fully comply with this
obligation. In order to continue monitoring this matter, this Court requires that the
State, according to the stipulations in the Judgment itself, continue presenting
complete and updated information every six months regarding the progress of the
investigations and the totality of the actions carried out in this sense. Namely, of the
mechanisms through which the inclusion of information and/or relevant documents
produced in the framework of other domestic mechanisms is made possible, as well as
the reasons for which some of the people accused or convicted have not been captured
and the measures to be adopted in that sense.
*
*
*
Search for and identification of the disappeared victims (ninth and tenth
operative paragraphs of the Judgment)
19.
That regarding the obligation to adopt forthwith the appropriate measures to
seek and identify the disappeared victims, as well as return their mortal remains to
their next of kin, the State informed it had carried out different actions and taken on a
constant investigative activity in which several tests were performed, among which it
can mention the recollection of DNA along with its corresponding comparisons; the
taking of statements; elaboration of photograph albums; judicial inspections;
investigations at the “Las Tangas” estate, and preparation of photographic blueprints.
Additionally, it stated that it ordered a diligence to exhume the osseous remains of 6
people buried in the cemetery of Pueblo Bello. It also mentioned meetings held with
the representatives on March 5 and April 10, 2008, in which they agreed on
methodological strategies for the search of the mortal remains and solutions for the
inconveniences that exist in order to be able to carry out the investigative actions. The
11
Cf. Case of the Pueblo Bello Massacre v. Colombia, supra note 10, paras. 267 through 269.