Latinnews Daily - 1 February 2008

Significance: Joint trials would speed-up the judicial aspect of the paramilitary peace process. The current method of trying former paramilitaries individually is slow: the first case (which is against a mid-ranking paramilitary from the Atlantic coast) is only now about go to trial a year after the legal mechanism for trying demobilised paramilitaries was established.

The government's rationale, according to an official document obtained by the El Tiempo newspaper, is that paramilitaries operated in blocs under a joint command and can therefore be tried together. The proposal is set to be announced by Interior and Justice Minister Carlos Holguí­n Sardi at a high-profile legal meeting which gets underway on 2 February in Bogotá.

Human rights groups have been quick to criticise the idea. They fear joint trials will make it much harder for the courts either to mete out justice for the crimes committed by the paramilitaries or to extract reparations for their victims. Human rights groups are also opposed to another proposal which the government is contemplating: this is that paramilitaries who hand over their assets to the government will receive certain judicial privileges. The measure is intended to bolster the amount of money available for the reparation of victims; so far the government has received far less than it expected.

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