264. In its judgment of August 23, 2012, convicting Rito Alejo del Río Rojas for the murder of Marino López, the Eighth Criminal Court of the Bogota Special Circuit established the following: “[i]t should be noted that, although the witnesses Casarrubia and Mosquera (and at times alias “El Alemán”), in their second version, seek to make a kind of retraction or clarification, or to appear uncertain about a specific point in their initial testimony, the court consider that full credibility should be given to the initial statements, not only because of their spontaneity and congruence, but also because the supposed ‘clarifications’ contained in the subsequent confessions denote a certain precaution of the witness against giving a spontaneous version. It could be imagined that the existence of possible ‘pressures’ brought to bear on the witnesses […] have made them fearful of narrating the truth of the events, which explains why they have chosen to try and decrease the forcefulness of their initial testimony or alter some aspect of what they had originally stated. However, this does not prevent the judge, based on the rules of sound judicial discretion, from weighing these versions and extracting the real implications of each one, especially as regards how a certain meaning of the testimony coincides with the rest of the body of evidence, particularly with what other deponents who are also aware of the same facts have stated. Thus, for example, it should be noted that the witness ‘alias HH’ says that Casarrubia is also aware of the connections between General del Río and self-defense groups […], so that [Casarrubia’s] supposed ‘retraction’ lacks credibility.”524 265. The above, together with other probative elements allowed the Eighth Criminal Court of the Bogota Special Circuit to reach the conclusion that, “as the Prosecutor has stated […] the ‘collusion’ between some soldiers of the 17th Brigade and the Self-Defense groups of the region emerged from the common purpose of combating the guerrilla.”525 Also, the same judicial decision added that, “it is not difficult to understand that this combined group had as commanders or leaders, in addition to Castaño, Mancuso and El Alemán [among others], General Rito Alejo del Río Rojas himself, who was therefore the person responsible for designing the strategy and/or operations together with them, as well as of assigning responsibilities to the seconds-in-command […] who, in turn, transmitted the orders to the commanders of the operational and executing groups […] all of which reveals a truly pyramidal organization.”526 266. The Court also takes note of the evidence provided by the State to substantiate its version of the facts and, among other probative elements, this is based on voluntary confessions of those demobilized (both paramilitaries and members of the guerrilla). However, the State has not indicated whether it has been possible to verify these confessions or whether, following an investigation by the Prosecutor General’s Office, this version of the events was rejected or confirmed by the competent authority. To the contrary, the evidence forwarded confirms that the version presented by the Commission and the representatives is based on confessions that have been investigated and verified by the Prosecutor General’s Office, so that they appear to be endowed with a more solid probative value than the non-verified confessions or those that have been verified and discounted. 267. Regarding other probative elements presented by the State to support its position, it can be observed that they are based on documents produced by the Colombian Armed Forces 524 Cf. Eighth Criminal Court of the Bogota Special Circuit, file 2009-063, defendant Rito Alejo del Río, judgment of August 23, 2012 (evidence file, folios 14805 and 14806). 525 The judgment added that the inhabitants of the region of Bijao “relate that the self-defense forces and the Army were moving around together in those places, on precisely the days on which Operation Genesis was implemented.” Cf. Eighth Criminal Court of the Bogota Special Circuit, file 2009-063, defendant Rito Alejo del Río, judgment of August 23, 2012 (evidence file, folios 14806). Specifically, the judgment underscores the statements of J.A.Q., Luis Alirio Córdoba and Teodolino Mosquera as indicating that the soldiers and the paramilitaries were operating in conjunction in the area at the time of the events. 526 Cf. Eighth Criminal Court of the Bogota Special Circuit, file 2009-063, defendant Rito Alejo del Río, judgment of August 23, 2012 (evidence file, folio 14807). The judgment added that “the foregoing not only reflects that the accused, as commander of the 17th Brigade really was one of the leaders of this combined group, […] but also, as already noted, that this combined group had a vertical structure with ‘leaders’ located at the head of the organization, followed by midlevel officials, and lastly the ground-level personnel responsible for implementing the group’s objectives.” 93