not of a man.” 487 Subsequently, in March 2002, Ms. Esguerra Forero’s mother requested the issue of a death certificate for her daughter or, alternatively, the exhumation of the remains delivered to the family of Justice Pedro Elías Serrano Abadia. 488 In April that year, the Second Criminal Court declared that it would order “the preparation of a forensic anthropological report,” to clarify whether the remains delivered to the family of Pedro Elías Serrano Abadía are really those of a woman.” 489 Nevertheless, this Court has no information on the steps taken or the results obtained in this regard. 314. Following the exhumations performed in the mass grave in the South Cemetery, the anthropological examinations carried out by the Universidad Nacional de Colombia (supra para. 194) determined that one of the corpses corresponded to an “adult male (40-60 years),” which “was found wearing an expensive custom-made suit, with fragments of safety glass on the knees.” According to the report, the “corpse was found among the debris […] on November 10, [1985],” and “a biological sample was obtained for DNA testing, which eliminated the possibility that it belonged to the group of disappeared persons.” The report concluded that “[j]udging by the osteo-biographical and taphonomic characteristics and the associated clothing, this body must belong to a civilian, possibly a high-ranking official from the fourth floor of the Palace of Justice (a justice?), whose body had been returned erroneously.” 490 315. The Court notes that in the section of the Report of the Truth Commission on the “Homage to the memory of the persons disappeared from the Palace of Justice, organized by their next of kin,” the next of kin indicated that “[t]he corpse […] that it was said could be Norma […] had perfect teeth, [while Ms. Esguerra Forero] had several fillings and a root canal.” 491 However, according to the autopsy report, the remains delivered to the next of kin of Justice Serrano Abadía did not include the teeth. 492 316. The first instance courts that have heard the case have concluded that the foregoing is not sufficient to disprove the conclusion that Norma Constanza Esguerra Forero was forcibly disappeared. 493 To the contrary, the Superior Court in the proceedings against the Commander of the Cavalry School concluded that “it cannot be affirmed that [Norma Constanza Esguerra Forero] left the Palace of Justice alive, owing to the errors and the improper actions at the scene of the events.” It stressed that “it is now necessary and essential that some authority with the required competence […] order the exhumation of the corpse that was returned, apparently erroneously, as that of Justice Pedro Elías Serrano Abadía.” 494 Similarly, in the proceedings against the Commander of the 13th Brigade, the Superior Court stated that “it is not valid to affirm that [Norma Constanza Esguerra Forero] left the Palace alive and was subsequently disappeared; rather, the necessary comparison 487 Cf. Note of the Institute of Forensic Medicine of May 19, 1989 (evidence file, folio 30898). 488 Cf. Petition of March 14, 2002 (evidence file, folio 30902). 489 Cf. Note of the Second Criminal Court of the Bogota Special Circuit of April 12, 2002 (evidence file, folio 30920). 490 Cf. Physical Anthropology Laboratory, La Investigación Antropológico Forense del Caso del Palacio de Justicia (evidence file, folio 21690). 491 Cf. Report of the Truth Commission (evidence file, folio 469). 492 Cf. Autopsy report No. 3805/85 of November 8, 1985 (evidence file, folio 30963). 493 Cf. Judgment of the Third Criminal Court of the Bogota Special Circuit of June 9, 2010 (evidence file, folios 24017 and 24018); Judgment of the 51st Criminal Court of the Bogota Circuit of April 28, 2011 (evidence file, folios 24511 and 24512), and Judgment of the 51st Criminal Court of the Bogota Circuit of December 15, 2011 (evidence file, folios 20970 and 20971). 494 Cf. Judgment of the Superior Court of Bogota of January 30, 2012 (evidence file, folios 23079 and 23081). 111

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