11 (d) Regarding paragraph 57,9 the State clarified that one of the two prosecutors indicated in the application did not go into exile, but “was sent abroad by the Prosecutor General on a study mission and, on his return to the country, continued his association with the Prosecutor’s Office until he retired”; (e) Regarding paragraph 60,10 the State added that by December 4, 2006, “[twoformer members of the [AUC] had been charged as allegedly responsible for the offenses of aggravated murder, simple kidnapping, and conspiracy to commit a crime. Also, [a] former member of the AUC had been charged and an order for his arrest issued for the same facts; he was captured on September 28, 2006, and subjected to a preliminary hearing, and his judicial situation is pending a decision”; (f) regarding paragraph 61,11 the State indicated that “the National Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law Unit of the Prosecutor General’s Office heard statements of [the two] former members of the AUC [named in the application] and declared them presumably responsible for the offenses of murder and simple kidnapping, to the detriment of Jesús María Valle, Nelly Valle Jaramillo, and Carlos Fernando Jaramillo Correa, and ordered their preventive detention by a ruling of June 8, 2007[…]. These individuals remain deprived of their liberty”; (g) regarding paragraph 62,12 the State clarified that “judicial investigations have been opened by the Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law Unit and by the Justice and Peace Unit of the Prosecutor General’s Office to establish whether State agents took part in the facts and, if so, which agents and in what circumstances”, and (h) in general, the State denied that it “had fostered an environment of harassment, persecution, and violation of the rights of human rights defenders or their organizations.” 31. The State did not accept as true the contents of paragraph 36 of the application, which indicated that there was “evidence that Mr. Valle Jaramillo’s name was on the list of ‘people who could be eliminated’ (eliminables) due to his public declarations denouncing the joint activities of the Army, the Fourth Brigade, and the Girardot Battalion with paramilitary groups in Ituango and neighboring municipalities.” Nor did it accept the affirmation made in the same paragraph that the “animosity of members of the Army towards Jesús María Valle Jaramillo arose from the human rights defender’s report on the connections and 9 Paragraph 57 of the application indicates: “The failure to execute the arrest warrants should be added to the context of intimidation in which the investigations were conducted and which led to the withdrawal of the prosecutors whose efforts had resulted in the charges against the ten civilians initially implicated [in the crimes]. Indeed, the prosecutors who prepared the first phase of the investigation and charged the accused received death threats and, in two cases, were forced to go into exile.” 10 Paragraph 56 of the application indicates: “On January 21, 2005, the Prosecutor General of the Republic assigned one of the investigations arising from the rupture in the proceedings to the National Human Rights Unit. However, as of the date of this report, we are unaware of any progress in this investigation and have no information on whether any State agents have been implicated in the investigations.” 11 Paragraph 61 of the application indicates: “On January 26, 2007, the State reported that, on September 28, 2006, a former member of AUC implicated in the investigation was detained, together with [two other] former members of AUC. However, prosecutors have yet to issue a decision on the possible responsibility of these persons for the facts [of the instant case].” 12 Paragraph 62 of the application indicates, “In short, almost nine years after the human rights defender Jesús María Valle Jaramillo was extrajudicially executed, and Nelly Valle and Carlos Fernando Jaramillo were held hostage, three civilians have been convicted in absentia and no judicial investigations exist to determine any responsibility of State agents.”