-39the roadblock installed in San Pedro de Urabá at that time, gave the paramilitary
22
group.
90.
According to the assessment of Mr. Escobar Mejía’s statement by the
domestic administrative and criminal instances, it can be seen that, under the
ordinary criminal justice system, the testimony of a person who had been a member
of a paramilitary group was considered valid for prosecuting and convicting other
members of the group, and also to find the place where the bodies of the victims had
been buried. Nevertheless, despite its evident relevance, this testimony was not
assessed by the military criminal justice system. This is also inconsistent with the
position expressed by the State before the Court: if one of the State’s arguments is
that domestic remedies (in the ordinary criminal justice jurisdiction and the
disciplinary procedure) have been effective in this case, this opinion of the domestic
remedies that accorded probative value to the statement, prevents the State from
validly rejecting its content before this international instance.
91.
The Court does not determine individual responsibilities (supra para. 122), so
it does not need to make a more specific assessment of the probative nature of the
statement made by Mr. Escobar Mejía before the domestic administrative and
jurisdictional bodies, as the State suggests.
92.
The Court considers that the statements made by Mr. Escobar Mejía before
the domestic administrative and jurisdictional bodies may be relevant to decide this
case, so they will be assessed together with the other evidence.
*
93.
In addition, the Commission and the representatives have alleged that
approximately eight days after the facts, three men dressed as solders, allegedly
from the Carepa military base, came to Pueblo Bello by helicopter and, based on a
list, gave out envelopes containing 50,000 pesos to the alleged victims’ next of kin,
even though many of the latter refused to receive the envelopes. During the public
hearing, the State did not contest the statements of the witnesses in this regard. In
the opinion of the representatives, this also shows the connection of members of the
Armed Forces with the facts of the case, because it is an action that acknowledges
responsibility for acts carried out by the Army and, particularly, by the Urabá Military
Chief.
94.
Consequently, as helpful evidence, the Court requested clarification of this
point (supra para. 32). It wanted to know if this had really occurred and the nature
and motive of the administrative or legal act ordering delivery of this money. The
State submitted some information in this regard (supra para. 37), after the allotted
time and when it had been asked to do so three times. It advised that, according to
the Presidential Social Action and International Cooperation Agenda (Deputy Director
for Attention to the Victims of Violence) and the Budgetary Group of the
Administrative Department of the Presidency of the Republic, “there was no record to
show that money had been provided on the occasion of the [Pueblo Bello]
massacre,” or “any payment [of suppliers of services] for the 1990 and 1991 fiscal
year allocated to the jurisdiction of Pueblo Bello.” In addition to its late presentation
22
Cf. judgment of July 31, 2000, delivered by the Office of the Delegate Disciplinary Attorney for
Human Rights of the Attorney General’s Office (file of attachments to the application, tome II, attachment
C-10, folio 679).
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