262. The Court underlines that the places where those suspected of participating in the
taking of the Palace of Justice were detained correspond to the information received by the
next of kin as to where their loved ones were detained, as well as to the testimony of Tirso
Sáenz Acero and Edgar Villamizar Espinel, members of the Army at the time of the events
(supra paras. 252, 253, 260 and 261). Even though it is not possible to verify the truth of
the information received by the family members, this is one more indication that the
disappeared persons left the Palace alive and were detained. In conclusion, the Court
observes that the next of kin of Bernardo Beltrán Hernández, Lucy Amparo Oviedo Bonilla,
Héctor Jaime Beltrán Fuentes, Cristina del Pilar Guarín Cortés, David Suspes Celis, Gloria
Anzola de Lanao, Carlos Augusto Rodríguez Vera, Irma Franco Pineda and Luz Mary Portela
León (9 of the 12 presumed disappeared victims) received information during or after the
events according to which either their specific family members or, in general the cafeteria
employees, survived the events of the Palace of Justice, and had been taken to military
facilities and, in some cases, they were even told that they were being tortured. This is
consistent with the practice at that time in relation to those suspected of belonging to a
guerrilla group (infra para. 375) and is an additional indication of what happened to the
presumed victims.
A.2.e) The Armed Forces’ denial of the detention of individuals from
the Palace of Justice
263. During the taking and retaking of the Palace of Justice, the next of kin of several of
the disappeared tried to approach the Palace of Justice and the Casa del Florero to ask for
their relatives, but were unable to get near or were informed that no one had been
detained. 393 Nevertheless, Héctor Jaime Beltrán’s brother was a DAS “official and was
responsible for the personal security of the 80th Special Criminal Investigation Judge” and
thus was able to enter the first floor of the Casa del Florero on both November 6 and 7.
Having received information that the cafeteria employees were in a truck (supra para. 256),
he “walked all around the perimeter of Bolivar Plaza [and inspected the army trucks that
were there] accompanied by other colleagues, but did not find [his] brother or the other
cafeteria employees.” 394
264. Regarding this information, the Superior Court indicated that, “it is evident that [the
brother requested his DAS colleagues to help in his search],” and, despite this, he was
unsuccessful. In this regard, that court concluded that:
Court considers that the coincidence mentioned by the father of one of the disappeared, as well as the fact that he
does not have the audio of the cassette, but only its transcript, do not allow the Court to grant it the probative value
sought by the representatives. Consequently, the Court will not take into account the November 15 telephone calls
received by the next of kin of Héctor Jaime Beltrán Fuentes, David Suspes Celis and Carlos Augusto Rodríguez Vera,
which relate to this cassette. Cf. Transcript of the cassette obtained by Carlos Arturo Guana Aguirre, Adviser to the
Attorney General’s office, on January 9, 1986 (evidence file, folios 29779 and 29781); Judgment of the 51st Criminal
Court of the Bogota Circuit of December 15, 2011 (evidence file, folio 21058); Judgment of the Third Criminal Court of
the Bogota Special Circuit of June 9, 2010 (evidence file, folios 24036 to 24038); Judgment of the Superior Court of
Bogota of January 30, 2012 (evidence file, folio 23236 to 23239); Testimony of Enrique Rodríguez Hernández of
October 28, 1986, before the Inspectorate of the Office of the Special Attorney’s assigned to the Military Forces
(evidence file, folios 27915 and 27916); Testimony of María del Pilar Navarrete Beltrán of January 3, 1986, before the
Ninth Itinerant Criminal Investigation Court (evidence file, folio 28930), and Testimony of Luz Dary Semper Bedoya of
December 21, 1985, before the Ninth Itinerant Criminal Investigation Court (evidence file, folio 28249).
393
See, for example, affidavit made by Deyamira Lizarazo on November 6, 2013 (evidence file, folio 35711), and
Testimony of Rosalbina León of December 12, 1985, before the Ninth Itinerant Criminal Investigation Court of Bogota
(evidence file, folio 29901).
394
Cf. Affidavit made on November 2, 2013, by Mario Beltrán Fuentes (evidence file, folios 35558 and 35559);
Extract from the testimony of Mario Beltrán of January 20, 1986, in the judgment of the Superior Court of Bogota of
January 30, 2012 (evidence file, folio 23093), and Testimony of Mario David Beltrán Fuentes of April 10, 2006, before
the Prosecution Service (evidence file, folio 28934).
91
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