291), and this excluded that they belonged to the presumed disappeared victims, except
Irma Franco Pineda, regarding whom no tests were carried out. 455 Also, between June and
September 2012, tests were carried out involving the next of kin of Norma Constanza
Esguerra Forero and Irma Franco Pineda; however, to date, the remains of these two
women have not been identified among the corpses exhumed from the South Cemetery
(supra para. 195). Consequently, according to the information provided to the case file, the
possibility has been excluded that 88 of the 90 adult remains that were exhumed belonged
to the disappeared victims, with the exception of Norma Constanza Esguerra Forero and
Irma Franco Pineda. 456 In this regard, even though there is no record that the pertinent
tests were carried out on all the relevant corpses to eliminate the presence of these two
persons in the said grave, 457 the Court notes that there is no doubt that Irma Franco Pineda
did not die inside the Palace of Justice, and her forced disappearance is not contested;
while, with regard to Norma Constanza Esguerra Forero, the Court refers to the specific
considerations on this victim below.
293. Despite the foregoing, the Court notes that if the remains of any of the presumed
victims were to be found among the corpses exhumed from the mass grave in the South
Cemetery, this would not eliminate automatically the possibility that they left the Palace of
Justice alive. The Superior Court of Bogota reached a similar conclusion in the proceedings
against the Commander of the 13th Brigade when it stated that “[t]he possibility that a
corpse was sent to the morgue and then to the mass grave does not exclude the possibility
of that person having left the Palace alive.” 458 The evidence in the case file reveals that this
grave was open until the end of December 1985 or the beginning of January 1986; 459 thus
the corpses of the presumed victims could have been deposited in the said grave up until
then. In this regard, the Court stresses that Irma Franco’s brother received information that
the corpses of the presumed victims had been deposited in this grave after they had been
kept for “eight days in the Usaquén stables” (supra para. 261). In this regard, the Court
notes that, even if the remains are identified among the corpses exhumed from the said
mass grave, additional circumstances must be determined, such as the probable cause of
455
The corpses numbered 16 and 56 were tested against samples from the next of kin of the men who were
disappeared and it was excluded that they belonged to Héctor Jaime Beltrán Fuentes, Bernardo Beltrán Hernández,
Carlos Augusto Rodríguez Vera and David Suspes. Also, corpse No. 85 was tested against samples from the next of kin
of the women who were disappeared, with the exception of Irma Franco Pineda, and it was excluded that they
belonged to Lucy Amparo Oviedo Bonilla, Gloria Stella Lizarazo Figueroa, Luz Mary Portela León, Cristina del Pilar
Guarín Cortés, Gloria Anzola de Lanao and Norma Constanza Esguerra Forero. Cf. Reports of the Laboratory
Expert of the Genetic Identification Unit of the Prosecutor General’s Office of June 8 and 15, 2012 (evidence file, folios
37389, 37397 and 37405), and Report of the Laboratory Expert of the Genetic Identification Unit of the Prosecutor
General’s Office of July 5, 2012 (evidence file, folios 37414 and 37415).
456
It was concluded that no results were obtained from the osseous remains identified with the numbers 18 and 58
because of the degradation of the genetic material present in the samples, and they were therefore sent for analysis
of mitochondrial DNA. Cf. Reports of the Laboratory Expert of the Genetic Identification Unit of the Prosecutor
General’s Office of June 25, 2012 (evidence file, folios 37376 to 37378 and 37380 to 37382).
457
The information regarding the DNA testing has been provided to the Court in a fragmented, haphazard and
confusing manner. Even though the representatives provided several analyses, which included tests of the next of kin
of Norma Constanza Esguerra Forero and Irma Franco Pineda, with their brief of March 17, 2013, it is unclear from
these analyses whether the information from these family members has been checked against all the corpses
considered to be females or of undetermined sex. Cf. Reports of the Laboratory Expert of the Genetic Identification
Unit of the Prosecutor General’s Office of July 5 and 16 and of September 26, 2012 (evidence file, folios 37414, 37415,
37417, 37422, 37425, 37441 and 37442).
458
Judgment of the Superior Court of Bogota of October 24, 2014 (evidence file, folio 38356).
459
Cf. Testimony of March 15, 2012, of Carlos Eduardo Valdés Moreno, Director General of the National Institute of
Forensic Medicine and Science who headed the exhumation procedure, before the 55th Criminal Court (evidence file,
folio 14845); Written notes by Carlos Bacigalupo (evidence file, folio 36331), and Judgment of the Superior Court of
Bogota of October 24, 2014 (evidence file, folio 38291).
104
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