-115committed several different crimes, and to different terms of imprisonment (supra
para. 95(103)). The judgment was appealed and, on December 30, 1997, the
Sentencing Chamber of the Tribunal Nacional confirmed it with some modifications; it
was declared final when the Supreme Court of Justice delivered
a cassation
judgment in March 2001 (supra paras. 95(104) to 95(106)).
182. In its judgment of December 30, 1997, when deciding the appeal filed against
the judgment in first instance, the Tribunal Nacional declared that there had been
errors in the proceedings up until that time and decreed the partial annulment
“concerning [...] the murder of the inhabitants of Pueblo Bello whose bodies have not
been identified”; hence, the investigation remained open (supra para. 95(105)).
Consequently, impunity reigns as regards the disappearance of the other 37 persons.
183. It is relevant to emphasize the partial impunity that continues in this case,
because most of the approximately 60 members of the paramilitary group who took
part in the raid on Pueblo Bello have not been investigated, identified or prosecuted.
Preventive detention measures and arrest warrants have been issued without any
results and, of the six persons convicted, only two are in prison. The State has not
provided evidence of any concrete measures designed to capture the suspects or to
implement the sentences of those convicted in absentia, or of the specific obstacles
encountered. In this regard, the only relevant elements are the official
communications from the Prosecutor General’s Office reactivating the arrest warrants
(supra para. 95(115)).
184. The Court recognizes that the matters under investigation by the domestic
judicial bodies in this case are complex and that, to date, the investigations and the
criminal proceedings have produced some concrete results, which, although
insufficient, have led to the conviction of several members of the paramilitary group
that carried out the massacre (supra paras. 95(103), 95(105) and 95(106)). It is
true that the massacre was perpetrated in the context of the internal armed conflict
that Colombia is experiencing, involved a large number of victims (who were
deprived of life or disappeared), and took place in a remote part of the country,
among other factors. However, in this case, the complexity of the matter is related
to the flaws that have been verified in the investigation.
185. It has also been proved that one of the next of kin of the disappeared and
deprived of live became a civil party to this criminal proceeding and, like ASFADDES,
has tried to advance the proceedings on several occasions (supra paras. 95(104),
95(108) to 95(113)). However, as indicated above with regard to the obligatory
nature of investigations into this type of facts, it cannot be maintained that the
procedural activity of the interested party should be considered determinant in
defining the reasonableness of the time of the criminal proceedings in a case such as
this one.
186. Moreover, although the cassation judgment of March 8, 2001, produced
partial results concerning the deprivation of life of the six persons whose bodies were
identified, the disappearance of the other 37 persons has remained at the
investigation stage for more than 16 years.
187. In summary, the partial impunity and the ineffectiveness of the criminal
proceedings in this case are reflected in two aspects: first, if it is considered that
around 60 men took part in the massacre, most of them have not been investigated
or have not been identified or prosecuted. Second, the impunity is reflected in the
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