Cases 4

sitio de archivo, para información actualizada visite www.derechoshumanos.gov.co

Machuca

On October 18, 1998, in the mining village of Machuca, municipality of Segovia, Antioquia, an explosion on the Central Pipeline set off by dynamite started an enormous fire, as a result of which 73 people died, 36 children among them, and 32 people were injured. The fire also caused irreparable environmental damage, destroyed 634 houses, leaving 1,070 people homeless, disrupted public services, killed animals, and devastated crops in the area. Responsibility for this deed, which constitutes a breach of the norms of International Humanitarian Law since no distinction was made between the civilian population and combatants, and a great deal of damage was inflicted on civiliansï¿½ property, was claimed by the General Command of the ELN guerrilla group. The ELN took the blame for it and announced that the perpetrators will be punished.

Both the National Army and OCENSA the firm running the oil pipelineï¿½, pressed charges against the ELN. The Human Rights Unit of the Office of the Prosecutor General launched an investigation of Luis Guillermo Roldán, alias "Julián", Germán Enrique Fernández, alias "Jonhy Gonzalez" or "Margarita", Oscar de Jesús Giraldo, alias "Rian" or "Palmer", and arrested Eduardo Antonio Sánchez Mosquera, alias "El Cojo", now held in Itagüí prison. All of them are members of the ELN guerrilla group and were indicted for terrorism, rebellion and manslaughter.

Given the fact that it is an IHL case, the governor of Antioquia apprised the international community of it. He laid it before the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. A report of that Office in which the case is mentioned, points out that the bombing of oil pipelines has serious consequences for the civilian population, because of the great danger represented by the release of a highly flammable product.

Benjamin Khoudari

Industrialist Benjamin Khoudari Ruben was kidnapped and murdered in a succession of events which took place between September and December 1998. His body was found in a rural area of the Department of Cundinamarca. As a result of an investigation conducted by the Special Prosecutorï¿½s Office, the individuals charged with these crimes were arrested. Also, three Army officers, Lieutenant Colonel Jorge Plazas Acevedo, Lieutenant Alexander Parga Rincón, and SS Guillermo Lozano Guerrero, all of them members of the intelligence section of the 13th Brigade, were brought into the process. The three officers were also linked to the disappearance of another four people.

These officers were charged, among other punishable offenses, with conspiracy to commit a crime, aggravated extortion kidnapping, and aggravated homicide. In the course of the penal process, the Attorney Generalï¿½s Office requested that the proceedings be transferred to ordinary justice, on the grounds that the acts in question have no relation to service, and therefore they are not the concern of military justice. The officers committed them taking advantage of their being members of the Army, and consequently these acts are penal offenses. Hence it is up to the Prosecutor Generalï¿½s Office and the Attorney Generalï¿½s Office to institute legal proceedings in this case.

Villeta Military roadblock

On January 28, 1998, five civilians were killed at a military roadblock on the highway between Villeta and Guaduas. The Office of the Attorney General laid criminal charges against the officers and soldiers who took part in the operation. On the investigation it was found that the officer in command had ordered an undercover roadblock to be set up, with the aim of intercepting two FARC front leaders who, according to intelligence reports, were travelling between Útica and Guaduas. The Public Ministry accused captain Hernández of having given an order, which would affect the civilian population, and having lied to his superiors in order to conceal the deed. Disciplinary proceedings continue, and are now at the evidence-gathering stage.

Criminal proceedings were conducted by the military justice system. On September 30, in a court-martial, Military Criminal Court Four convicted the defendants of manslaughter and unintentional grievous bodily harm, as well as covering up. Major Pablo-Efraín Hernández was sentenced to 66 monthsï¿½ imprisonment; lieutenant Luis-Fernando Chamorro to 48 monthsï¿½ imprisonment; corporal Edison Varón to 40 monthsï¿½ imprisonment; and Diego-Fernando Parra and José-Herney Castaño to eight monthsï¿½ arrest for the crime of cover up. Sixteen soldiers who composed the military patrol were sentenced to 36 monthsï¿½ imprisonment.