The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has accepted the request of several organizations to study the murder of critical journalist and humanitarian mediator Jaime Hernando Garzón Forer...
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2022-09-26T23:48:26Z
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has accepted the request of several organizations to study the murder of critical journalist and humanitarian mediator Jaime Hernando Garzón Forero, who lost his life in August 1999 in Bogotá.
After 23 years have passed since the crime, the IACHR has accepted the request of the Colombian Commission of Jurists and the José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers' Collective, who have insisted that the international responsibility of the Colombian State in the attack against the journalist must be established.
The request was filed in August 2011 by the siblings - Alfredo and Marisol Garzón - together with the José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers' Collective (Cajar) to investigate the violation of the rights to life, personal freedom, justice and thought and expression that were violated in the murder of Garzón Forero, Infobae reported.
"The IACHR rejected the claims of inadmissibility of the case raised by the Colombian State, with which it sought to show diligence in judicial advances while justifying impunity, the lack of punishment and prosecution of those responsible, especially the high military commanders who were allegedly involved in the murder, and who have not been punished," reads the statement published by the organizations.
The human rights groups have welcomed the news - as have the victims - and have described the arrival of the case at the IACHR as "an important step towards the reestablishment of the violated rights" of both the victim's family and Colombian society.
"We also value it as an encouragement for the historic struggle of Jaime Garzón Forero's family for truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-repetition," the letter states.
"In this regard, we persist in our call to the Attorney General's Office to comply with Inter-American standards in terms of investigation and prosecution, so as to identify all the perpetrators, State agents and civilians who committed this crime," they added.
In this sense, they have urged the entity to resume investigations to uncover the "real perpetrators", who tried to divert the investigations and ensure their impunity.
"If the investigation carried out by this entity would follow a macro-criminal approach, it would have within its reach the evidence and the probative material to clarify that they were part of a network that devised, executed and covered up Jaime's murder", both groups have denounced.
25 сен 2022
