4
Caballero Delgado’s forced disappearance, and not from her activities as a trade
unionist; (ii) the beneficiary must give her express consent to participate in this
program so that the risk assessment can be carried out; (iii) the Witness Protection
Program includes, inter alia, such protective measures as a change of domicile or a
relocation away from the danger zone, and (iv) the beneficiary’s refusal to
participate in the Witness Protection Program must be interpreted by the Court as
Mrs. Parra’s rejection of protection and, consequently, in keeping with the criteria
established by the Court in its previous Order concerning Mr. Arias Alturo, the
current provisional measures must be lifted. Despite the foregoing, the State
indicated that “in the event that new threats against the beneficiary materialize, [it
will provide her with] the institutional support of the National Police for security
measures.” Subsequently, Colombia advised that the Ministry of Justice and the
Interior had asked the National Police to “make an assessment of the level of risk
and degree of threat that examined the information that the beneficiary [...] had
provided the State on her participation in the criminal proceedings,” without this
implying that the Ministry of Justice was competent to provide protection to Mrs.
Parra.
10.
Regarding developments in the criminal investigations into the forced
disappearance of Mr. Caballero Delgado and Mrs. Santana, the State indicated that
the Prosecutor General’s Office had taken several measures, including surveys,
exhumations, taking statements, and the identification of persons involved in the
case, despite which no positive results had been obtained in locating the remains of
the two victims. Regarding the investigation into the threats against the beneficiary,
the State reported that “although the origin of the threats had not been determined,
[it] has taken pertinent measures to clarify the reported facts.” The measures
included a report by the Technical Investigation Unit dated March 30, 2010, in which
it noted that “Mrs. […] Parra stated that a threatening telephone message had been
left for her at her workplace”; consequently, in June 2010, it requested a record of
the telephone calls made to and from her workplace.
11.
The representatives indicated that the State “had complied with the pertinent
measures of protection that provide the beneficiary’s current security system.” They
indicated that, after several years and some logistic problems in the implementation
of the protection system, Mrs. Parra had grown accustomed to living with the
system, which “has always been the responsibility of the DAS, at her demand and
insistence,” so that she wished to continue under this protection system. They stated
that, despite the existence of these measures of protection, the State had not
complied with the obligation to “expedite the internal investigations into the threats
and harassment [suffered by the beneficiary],” specifically: (a) harassment by a
police agent when the beneficiary’s father died; (b) being followed by members of
the National Police on motorcycles; (c) the intervention of her telephone line, and
(d) the death threats after she testified in the domestic criminal proceedings on
November 11, 2009. They added that the beneficiary “does not feel safe” since she
does not know the source of the danger and threats.
12.
Regarding the risk assessments, they reiterated the possible failings in the
assessment made on April 24, 2009, including the fact that it did not take into
account that the risk arose from her actions in promoting the criminal investigations
carried out in the domestic sphere, but rather only considered her condition as a
trade unionist. Regarding the preparation of a new risk assessment, they indicated
that it was illogical that Mrs. Parra could agree to participate in the new Witness
Protection Program, without previously receiving information on the risk assessment,