mechanism for their violation. These practices even amounted to the violation of other rights with consequences for the exercise of freedom of expression. Next, the specific situation of Ms. Bedoya and the violation of her right to freedom of expression for being a woman journalist will be analyzed. IV. THE SITUATION OF JINETH BEDOYA AND THE VIOLATION OF HER RIGHT TO FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION FOR BEING A WOMAN JOURNALIST 13. Ms. Bedoya suffered several violations of her rights due to being a journalist that affected her ability to express herself. Thus, in her testimony, Ms. Bedoya indicates that "after May 25, everything was really very confusing, very difficult because it was impossible to continue living in Colombia knowing that the threat was still there." She even stated that her communications have been intercepted for 21 years and "there was a very difficult moment in which I made the decision to commit suicide, but being able to continue doing journalism thanks to the opportunity they gave me in El Espectador, made me decide to concentrate one hundred percent on my journalism work, during all these years I focused on documenting the Colombian armed conflict and doing investigations and reporting. " What's more, she asserts that the threats continue to this day. 14. Regarding the State’s obligation to investigate the crimes committed, Ms. Bedoya indicated that "the investigation by the State has not moved forward (...) For me this is only an example of corruption, not just in this case, but the corruption in general linked to drug trafficking and crime that unfortunately has fueled impunity in Colombia. My case has not been the exception,” said Ms. Bedoya in her statement. 15. Regarding the forms of violence that women journalists experience, it is worth noting the expert testimony of Michael Forst with Jineth Bedoya’s statements in a hearing before the Court in which he affirms that “a powerful way to attack women human rights defenders is to damage their ‘honor’ or reputation by subjecting them to sexual violence. Threats and violence against women human rights defenders are used as a form of punishment for speaking the truth to power and are intended to make examples of them for their actions and for being women.” 8 8 Statement of Michel Forst before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and original plaintiff in 4