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operative paragraphs. In addition, as the Court has ordered on previous occasions,322
this judgment must be published integrally, for at least one year, on an appropriate
official web page, taking into account the characteristics of the publication that has
been ordered. The Court establishes a time frame of six and two months as of
notification of this judgment for the publications in the newspapers and on the
Internet, respectively.
b)
Public acknowledgment of international responsibility
221. Both the Commission and the representatives asked that the Court “order an
act to make public reparation in which the State acknowledges its international
responsibility for the extrajudicial execution of Senator Manuel Cepeda Vargas and the
subsequent obstruction of justice, and apologizes for the facts to his next of kin.”
Furthermore, the representatives asked that, during this act, the State acknowledge its
responsibility by both act and omission, restore the memory of the victim,
acknowledge that this execution constituted a crime against humanity and apologize to
the victim’s next of kin and the members of his political party. They considered it
essential that the act be held during a plenary session of the Congress of the Republic
of Colombia, on the anniversary of the Senator’s murder, in the presence of the
members of the two chambers, the victim’s next of kin, and a representative of the
Patriotic Union, and that the President of the Republic, as the person responsible for
making the official acknowledgement, address those present; also, that the act be
broadcast in direct by the State radio stations and television channels and covered by
the mass media.
222. For its part, the State indicated that, notwithstanding the public
acknowledgement of State responsibility made during the public hearing held in this
case (supra para. 14), it accepted the measure of reparation and would organize a
“public act [in Colombia] to acknowledge the international responsibility of the
Colombian State, by act and omission, in the murder of Senator Manuel Cepeda Vargas
and to apologize publicly to his next of kin as a form of reparation.” Nevertheless, it
did not specify the exact conditions or ways in which such act would take place, and
did not accept those requested by the Commission and the representatives. The Court
observes that the acknowledgement of responsibility made during the hearing is an act
of satisfaction and has taken note of the acknowledgement made by the State.
223. On previous occasions, the Court has assessed favorably those acts that result
in the recovery of the victims’ memory, the recognition of their dignity, and the
consolation of their heirs.323 The Court considers it appropriate that the State organize
a public act of acknowledgement of international responsibility in Colombia to ensure
that the acknowledgement of international responsibility made before the Court
achieves its full effects as a measure of satisfaction and guarantee of non-repetition of
the serious human rights violations that have been declared. During this act reference
must be made to: (a) the facts relating to the execution of Senator Manuel Cepeda
Vargas, committed in the context of generalized violence against members of the UP,
322
Cf. Serrano Cruz Sisters v. El Salvador. Merits, reparations and costs. Judgment of March 1, 2005. Series
C No. 120, para. 195; Case of the Dos Erres Massacre v. Guatemala, supra note 57, para. 256, and Case of Radilla
Pacheco v. Mexico, supra note 24, para. 350.
323
Cf. Case of the Pueblo Bello Massacre v. Colombia, supra note 136, para. 254; Case of the Miguel Castro
Castro Prison v. Peru, supra note 56, para. 430; Case of Vargas Areco v. Paraguay, supra note 209, para. 149, and
Case of Radilla Pacheco v. Mexico, supra note 24, para. 352.
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