wording of the aforementioned official communication to be altered, and ordered, that same day, the mobilization of the remaining companies of Joaquín Paris Battalion to Calamar, despite the fact that there was allegedly no confirmation of public disturbances of public order in said municipality. The Battalion is said to have returned to Mapiripán on July 23, 1997, after the massacres had been carried out and the paramilitary group had left the area.6 14. The petitioners hold that these acts constitute serious violations of Articles 4, 5, and 7 of the American Convention and that the State is responsible for the consequences of the acts perpetrated by members of the AUC in coordination and cooperation with the National Army. To be exact, they said: The Mapiripán massacre succeeded thanks to a coordinated effort between members of the United Self-Defense Groups of Colombia and members of the Second Mobile Brigade of the Seventh Brigade of the National Army. All the acts carried out by that paramilitary group were possible thanks to the active participation and omissions of the commissioned and noncommissioned officers who have been implicated by the investigation.7 The petitioners consider that the conduct adopted by the Army personnel was not confined to their failure to defend the liberty, physical integrity and life of the residents of Mapiripán, but that their participation by deliberate action and by omission was part of a preconceived plan to enable the massacre to proceed. 15. As to the clarification of the massacre in the domestic jurisdiction, the petitioners say that on July 23, 1997, a preliminary enquiry was opened by the Twelfth Government Prosecutor’s Office Assigned to the Regional Courts, based in San José del Guaviare. On July 21, 1998 the Human Rights Unit of the Prosecutor General’s Office issued a warrant for the arrest of Sergeant Juan Carlos Gamarra Polo and Noncommissioned Officer José Miller Ureña Díaz as author and coauthor of the offences of conspiracy, terrorism, aggravated homicide, and aggravated abduction. On May 20, 1999 the Human Rights Unit issued a warrant for the arrest of General Jaime Humberto Uscátegui Ramírez for the offences of homicide, aggravated abduction, and falsification of a public document. 16. On June 2, 1999, the Office of Commander of the National Army presented a petition challenging the jurisdiction of the Human Rights Unit, inasmuch as it considered that the charges against the aforementioned officers and noncommissioned officers should be investigated by the military criminal courts. On June 21, 1999 the Human Rights Unit rejected the petition and referred the record to the Tribunal of Judicial Discipline of the Superior Council of the Judicature.8 17. On August 18, 1999, following an incidental proceeding on impediment and another on recusation of two of its members, the Superior Council of the Judicature decided to award to the military courts jurisdiction over the prosecution of General Uscátegui Ramírez and Lieutenant Colonel Orozco Castro. It further decided to refer the cases against Colonel Sánchez Prado and Sergeants Gamarra Polo and Ureña Díaz to the ordinary jurisdiction. The petitioners consider that this situation infringes upon the rights to a fair trial and judicial protection provided in Articles 8 and 25 of the American Convention. by the Commander of the National Army in cases UDH 244 and 443 concerning Brigadier General Jaime Humberto Uscátegui and four other officers of the Colombian National Army. 6 Declaration of the Regional Government Prosecutor of San José del Guaviare at the time of the events, cited by the Human Rights Unit of the Prosecutor General’s Office in its decision of June 21, 1999, on the conflict of jurisdiction advanced by the Commander of the National Army in cases UDH 244 and 443 concerning Brigadier General Jaime Humberto Uscátegui and four other officers of the Colombian National Army. 7 Communication of the petitioners of October 6, 1999. See also Human Rights Unit of the Prosecutor General’s Office, Decision of June 21, 1999 on the conflict of jurisdiction advanced by the Commander of the National Army in cases UDH 244 and 443 concerning Brigadier General Jaime Humberto Uscátegui and four other officers of the Colombian National Army, p.14. 8 Human Rights Unit of the Prosecutor General’s Office, Decision of June 21, 1999 on the conflict of jurisdiction advanced by the Commander of the National Army in cases UDH 244 and 443 concerning Brigadier General Jaime Humberto Uscátegui and four other officers of the Colombian National Army. 3