The petition refers to facts that occurred during the siege and subsequent takeover of the Justice Palace, headquarters of the Supreme Court and the State Council in Bogotá, Colombia. This took place on November 6th and 7th in 1985.

On November 6th a guerilla command of Group M-19 sieged the Justice Palace. The high command of the Armed Forces of Colombia decided to retake it through a military operation and intelligence that was described as disproportionate and excessive by domestic courts and the “Truth Commission on the Acts of the Palace of Justice”, established by the Supreme Court.

The operation lasted 27 hours and resulted in the death of approximately 100 people, including judges of the Supreme Court and State Council. Many of those who survived were tortured and in some cases disappeared or executed. Among these people are the victims in this case.

The Inter-American Court analyzed the state responsibility in the light of international obligations in relation to serious crime of torture, forced disappearance, and execution, as well as the obligation to investigate these facts within a civil jurisdiction and by a competent judge, not a military jurisdiction.