23. They assert that because of the “attempted forced disappearance”, on October 9, 1997, Mr. Vélez Restrepo left Colombia to seek asylum in the United States, as his life was in immediate danger. They indicate that in 1998 he was granted political asylum along with his family, which had stayed behind in Medellín until September 12, 1998. 24. They claim that the petitioners feel as if they are living in a borrowed country, far from family and friends, adding that in Colombia they were financially secure, owned their own home, and that Mr. Vélez Restrepo went from being part of an elite group of Colombian journalists to a situation of protracted unemployment in a strange land. Proceedings in the domestic jurisdiction 25. They indicate that because of the physical assaults perpetrated against Mr. Vélez Restrepo on August 29, 1996, the subsequent threats, acts of harassment and intimidation against him and his family, and the presumed “attempted forced disappearance” to which he was subjected, they initiated proceedings in different jurisdictions, none of which ultimately was effective. 26. They affirm that the following proceedings were initiated in relation to the aforementioned incidents: a) a military criminal proceeding for the attacks against the peasants and against Mr. Vélez Restrepo in Caquetá in 1996; b) a disciplinary proceeding before the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation for the physical attacks against Mr. Luis Gonzalo Vélez Restrepo in Caquetá in 1996; c) a disciplinary proceeding before the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation for the threats and acts of harassment and intimidation against Mr. Luis Gonzalo Vélez Restrepo and his family; d) a pre-trial administrative conciliation procedure before an Administrative-Contentious Court for the presentation of a request by the petitioners; and e) an ordinary criminal proceeding in the investigation stage before the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation. a. Military criminal proceeding for attacks against peasants and against Mr. Vélez Restrepo in Caquetá in 1996 27. They indicate that shortly after the attack on Mr. Vélez Restrepo, the Attorney General’s office publicly announced that it would open a criminal investigation. At the specific request of the military authorities, however, the Attorney General’s investigation was transferred from the ordinary justice system to the military criminal justice system. 28. They state that apparently the latter jurisdiction had opened its own investigation of a report submitted by a lieutenant describing the attacks on the peasants in Caquetá and those perpetrated against Mr. Vélez Restrepo. They indicate that the military jurisdiction requested Mr. Vélez Restrepo to hand over medical records describing the injuries suffered in the attack, and they even summoned him to appear. He testified in late September 1996, about the events in question. 29. It is their view that the military criminal investigation was not adequate to discover the facts, particularly when the military judge had been appointed by the Commander of the same Battalion 36 whose members were being investigated as perpetrators of the attacks. They report that as of the date the petition was submitted, they had not been informed as to the outcomes of the investigation and had even been denied access to this information in October 1996, as “part of the confidentiality” of a closed investigation. 30. They claim to have petitioned for information about the status of the process on several occasions, without having received any response whatsoever, until finally, on June 3, 2006,1 Military Criminal Court 67 [Juzgado 67 Penal Militar] informed them in an interlocutory judgment of October 3, 1997, the court had closed the case on the August 29, 1996 attack and that the file had subsequently been lost,2 because the military installations where it was kept 1 According to the additional information provided by the petitioners on October 4, 2006, p.2. 2 Letter from Military Criminal Instruction Court 67, dated June 22, 2006, in response to Mr. Vélez Restrepo’s request for information, annexed to the additional written information submitted by the petitioners. 4