4
12.
The comments submitted by the Inter-American Commission on July 29,
2005, whereby the Commission stated, inter alia, that:
a)
it acknowledged that Marta Colomina is currently under the protection
of a State security agency; however, such protection is deficient, “given that
the specific form of protection has not been agreed upon with the
beneficiaries and their representative.” Furthermore, the State is not in
compliance with its duty to provide protection to Liliana Vásquez;
b)
the mechanism for compliance with provisional measures “may only be
implemented [..] in consultation with the beneficiaries and their
representatives.” Accordingly, it insisted on the need for the State to make its
best efforts to hold a meeting with the beneficiaries for planning purposes,
and
c)
in the proceeding for provisional measures, it will not analyze the
conclusions arrived at by the State regarding the investigation of the facts
that led to the measures, “which pertains to the examination of the merits of
the matter, to be dealt with at the appropriate stage of case No. 519/03,
which is currently pending before the Commission.”
13.
The September 9, 2005 report by the State and the appendixes thereto,
wherein the State noted, inter alia, that:
a)
the crime perpetrated against the beneficiaries is a hard one to solve,
because of the crowd that was involved in it and because the evidence left at
the scene was altered, as evidence was manipulated and gathered by nonexpert persons disregarding the applicable statutory requirements. The case
of Ms. Colomina was discontinued without prejudice because the investigation
stage did not produce sufficient evidence to prosecute;
b)
“[it w]ill continue to investigate until the facts are fully cleared up,” in
spite of the aforementioned difficulties. Furthermore, it invited Marta
Colomina and Liliana Velásquez to provide the Office of the Attorney General
with any information that would be of value in furthering such investigation;
c)
the beneficiaries of the measures did not attend the hearings called by
the investigating courts, which are in charge of implementing the protection
measures. “[T]he failure to appear […] inevitably leads to the assumption that
they have already given up on the enforcement of such measures or that the
danger leading to such measures is now over;”
d)
the beneficiaries’ representatives have misstated the facts by claiming
that “the beneficiaries never provided a statement” to State authorities. A
police Commission was sent to the “Televen” television channel’s building,
where it interviewed Liliana Velásquez and Marta Colomina, as well as several
witnesses, and
e)
in this case there are no multiple, consistent indications to assume
that a serious threat exists against Marta Colomina and Liliana Velásquez.
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