44
operating in the region.” In this regard, the State alleged that “there is no direct or
circumstantial evidence that would indicate that State agents intervened in planning,
executing, deciding, or acting as intermediaries in the murder of Jesús María Valle
Jaramillo.” In any case, the State clarified that its acknowledgement of responsibility was
partial to the extent that “not all the investigations opened have concluded. Indeed, some of
them are still open in the Prosecutor General’s Office and are designed to identify other
authors who could have taken part in the facts with different degrees of responsibility.”
148. The Court observes that various criminal, disciplinary, and administrative
proceedings were opened in relation to the facts of the instant case. The Court finds it
pertinent, first, to make a brief summary of these proceedings in the said order and based
on the State’s acknowledgement of facts, and then to analyze the violation of Articles 8(1)
and 25(1) of the Convention with regard to each one.
A)
Criminal proceedings
149. The Court accepts as proved that, following the facts that are the subject of this
case, the Prosecutor General's Office, through the Rapid Reaction Unit, began a preliminary
investigation by conducting an on-site inspection. Following several preliminary measures,
the Colombian State began a formal criminal investigation under case No. 26,017 on July 8,
1998, and, on May 21, 1999, the Prosecutor's Office assessed the merits of the
investigation, charged 10 individuals with the offenses of “illegally forming paramilitary
groups” and aggravated murder, and ordered that the investigation continue with regard to
the offenses against the personal liberty and autonomy of Carlos Fernando Jaramillo Correa
and Nelly Valle Jaramillo. On March 15, 2001, the Third Criminal Court of the Medellín
Specialized Circuit sentenced Álvaro Goez Mesa and Jorge Eliécer Rodríguez Guzmán to 40
years' imprisonment as co-perpetrators of the murder of Jesús María Valle Jaramillo. Carlos
Castaño Gil was sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment as author of the offense of forming
unlawful armed groups or paramilitary groups. In the same judgment, another seven
civilians were acquitted of the offense of aggravated murder and forming part of unlawful
armed groups, and Carlos Castaño Gil was acquitted as co-author of the offense of murder.
This decision was confirmed on July 25, 2001, by the Criminal Chamber of the Superior
Court of Medellín, which reduced the term of imprisonment delivered by the judge of first
instance from 20 years to 9 years for Carlos Castaño Gil, and from 40 years to 25 years for
Álvaro Goez Mesa and Jorge Eliécer Rodríguez. Carlos Castaño Gil died in 2005.
150. On January 28, 2008, alleging the “significant non-compliance with the Colombian
State's obligation to investigate seriously and impartially the [alleged] violations [in the
case],” the National Human Rights Unit of the Prosecutor General's Office filed an
application for judicial review of the judgment of July 25, 2001, delivered by the Superior
Court of Medellín before the Supreme Court of Justice. On April 1, 2008, the Criminal
Cassation Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice decided to admit this application for
judicial review.108 At the time of this judgment, the Court has no further information in this
regard.
151. As a result of the rupture of the unity of case No. 26, 017 (opened for the facts cited
when assessing the investigation stage), cases No. 31,928 and No. 343,431 were opened.
Regarding case No. 31,928, on November 23, 1999, the Medellín Regional Prosecutor
charged another alleged member of the paramilitary forces in absentia. However, on May
31, 2007, the Fourth Criminal Court of the Medellín Circuit acquitted him. Regarding case
108
Judicial decision of the Criminal Cassation Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice of April 1, 2008 (file
on merits, tome V, folios 1048 and 1049).