REPORT Nº 46/07 PETITION 231-05 ADMISSIBILITY MERY NARANJO ET AL. (COMUNA 13) COLOMBIA 23 July 2007 I. SUMMARY 1. On March 7, 2005, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (hereinafter “the Commission”) received a petition that the Interdisciplinary Human Rights Group (hereinafter “the petitioners”) lodged against the Republic of Colombia (hereinafter “the State” or “the Colombian State”) accusing it of responsibility for the alleged November 2002 arbitrary detention of community leaders María del Socorro Mosquera Londoño, Mery del Socorro Naranjo Jiménez and Ana Teresa Yarce –who served on the Community Action Board of the Las Independencias III district of Comuna 13 in the city of Medellín- and of the death of Ana Teresa Yarce on October 6, 2004. 2. The petitioners allege that the State is responsible for violation of the rights to life, humane treatment, personal liberty, a fair trial, privacy, freedom of association, protection of the family, freedom of movement and residence and judicial protection and of the obligation not to suspend certain non-derogable rights, as recognized in Articles 4, 5, 7, 8, 11, 16, 17, 22, 25 and 27 of the American Convention on Human Rights (hereinafter the “Convention” or the “American Convention”), all in relation to Article 1(1) thereof and to the detriment of María del Socorro Mosquera Londoño, Mery del Socorro Naranjo Jiménez, and Ana Teresa Yarce and their next of kin. In response, the State alleges that the petitioners’ complaint does not satisfy the rule requiring prior exhaustion of the remedies under domestic law, set forth in Article 46(1)(a) of the American Convention, or the conditions that must obtain for the exception allowed under Article 46(2)(c) of the Convention to apply. 3. After examining the parties’ positions and the matter of compliance with the requirements set forth in Articles 46 and 47 of the Convention, the Commission decided to declare the complaint admissible as regards the alleged violations of Articles 5(1), 7(1), 7(3), 8(1), 11, 16, 17(1), 22(1) and 25 of the Convention, all in relation to Article 1(1) thereof and to the detriment of María del Socorro Mosquera Londoño, Mery del Socorro Naranjo Jiménez and Ana Teresa Yarce and their next of kin; and as regards the alleged violation of Article 4 of the American Convention, in relation to Article 1(1) thereof and to the detriment of Ana Teresa Yarce. It also finds that the petition is admissible under Articles 46 and 47 of the American Convention. It has decided to notify the parties of its decision and to order its publication in the Annual Report. II. PROCESSING WITH THE COMMISSION 4. The IACHR registered the petition as P-231-05 and, after a preliminary review of its content, forwarded the relevant parts to the Colombian State on December 21, 2005, with the request that it submit information on the issue in question within two months, pursuant to Article 30(2) and 30(3) of the Commission’s Rules of Procedure. 5. On February 22, 2006, the IACHR received a communication from the State in which it requested a 30-day extension to submit its response to the petition. That extension was granted on February 24, 2005. The State submitted its information on June 14, 2006, by note DDH.GOI 31279/1533. 6. On October 22, 2004, the Commission requested the State to adopt precautionary measures to protect the life and physical integrity of Mery Naranjo Jiménez, Alba Mery Naranjo, Sandra 1