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“some of them, who were well-known drug-traffickers with connections to the
paramilitary groups, had been acquitted during the investigation”;
(d)
The first judgment delivered in these criminal proceedings was on
November 14, 2003; in other words, six years after the events occurred in La
Granja. However, it was revoked by the Antioquia Superior Court on July 12,
2004;
(e)
A new judgment was delivered on July 8, 2005, almost nine years
after the events had occurred; and
Decree 128 of 2003 and Act 975 of 2005 contribute to the fact that the
only judgment delivered in the La Granja case cannot be executed, because
the domestic legal framework offers the authors of these grave human rights
violations the possibility of a reduced sentence, and provides that those who
have intervened in these facts and who have not yet been individualized are
not obliged to plead guilty before the Colombian authorities.
(g)
ii)
Concerning the events that occurred in El Aro
(a)
Regarding the investigation of the facts, there are three elements that
show that these criminal proceedings are not complying with the minimum
requirements to consider that the procedural guarantees of the alleged
victims have been respected: (a) not one member of the National Army has
been included in the investigation; (b) impunity reigns, and (c) seven years
have elapsed since the armed incursion in El Aro, a more than reasonable
time for the delivery of a final judgment encompassing all those responsible
for all the acts perpetrated;
(b)
Only three civilians have been convicted for the many acts that
occurred in this district, in which approximately 200 men took part;
(c)
The judgment of the Second Criminal Court of the Antioquia Circuit of
April 22, 2002, did not include all the crimes committed during the incursion
in El Aro; and
(d)
A financial conciliation process was carried out in several of the
administrative proceedings, but as yet no payments have been made.
The State’s arguments
282. The State alleged that it had not violated Articles 8(1) and 25 of the American
Convention, because:
i) Concerning the recourses available in the domestic sphere
(a)
Colombia has a genuine system for the protection of fundamental
rights, with the constitutional mechanisms that comprise the judicial
protection system, including the Ombudsman’s Office, which, although it is
not a judicial mechanism, is an institution for the protection of these rights.
The constitutional mechanisms that comprise the system for the judicial
protection of fundamental rights in Colombia are: habeas corpus; the “tutela”
action (which is the maximum remedy of “amparo” [protection of
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