Andean Group - March 2013 (ISSN 1741-4466)

The passing of a reform to the military justice law in December aroused strong objections from human rights activists, international organisations, and leftwing legislators. This month, the constitutional court agreed to a request to examine the constitutionality of the new law, following a request by a handful of congressional deputies and NGOs. The reform is widely considered a gesture by President Juan Manuel Santos toward the military top brass, whose support is critical in the peace talks currently under way with the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Farc) in Cuba.

The reform creates a special court comprising four civilians and four retired military officers to decide jurisdictional disputes among civilian and military justice systems. It stipulates that military courts can under no circumstances try cases of crimes against humanity or violations of international humanitarian law, including forced disappearance, sexual violence, torture, forced dislocation and extra-judicial executions. However, human rights activists warn that given that ‘extra-judicial execution’ is not a crime typified in the legal code, hundreds of cases of extra-judicial executions could be transferred from civilian to military courts.

The key text in the amendment which has stoked much of the controversy refers to the crime of extrajudicial execution as being when “the public servant […] in the exercise of his duties, kills someone who he has control over who is in a position of absolute helplessness”. Other points of contention include absolving the soldier of penal consequences when the crime is the result of an error; or in a case of legitimate defence, or when he is following a superior’s orders. This final mitigating argument has already come under scrutiny from the constitutional court, which, in previous judgements has not permitted this argument as a defence. Other concerns include the scope the new law would allow the Colombian military for crime-fighting. In essence the new law would allow the army to bomb criminal organisations. “Illegal armed groups” would be considered legitimate targets, with the key factor under consideration being their capacity to inflict damage.

The request was sent to the constitutional court on 19 February by Deputies Iván Cepeda, Germán Navas (both of the Polo Democrático Alternativo), Ángela María Robledo (Partido Verde) and Guillermo Rivera (Partido Liberal), as well as two legal scholars and the committee in solidarity with political prisoners NGO. The text of the request argued that “the widening of the military justice law constitutes a risk to a country at war like Colombia, in which impunity has reached high levels and where thousands of young people have been victims of military actions. […] This reform clearly incorporates unconstitutional elements and puts us in the eye of the storm of international human rights’ organisations".

When the senate approved the amendment in December 2012, organisations such as Human Rights Watch (HRW), the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (ComisiónIDH) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) openly rejected the law; HRW director for the Americas, José Miguel Vivanco, called it "an unnecessary and premeditated blow to human rights".

• “El Tuso” released

Former paramilitary drug lord “El Tuso,” who went on record to testify against former President Alvaro Uribe (2002-2010) for paramilitary ties, has been released from a US federal prison. “El Tuso”, whose real name is Juan Carlos Sierra Ramírez, was released from prison on 14 March, according to records kept by the US Federal Bureau of Prisons, even though his release date was set for 2016. “El Tuso” was extradited on 13 May 2008, together with a number of other leaders of the paramilitary group, the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia.

• Water protests

A demonstration in Yopal, Colombia on 18 March turned violent, as residents took to the streets to protest about a lack of clean water in the city. The town of Yopal is located in the eastern department of Casanare. Its 140,000 residents have been without running water for 22 months, after a landslide in May 2011 caused the collapse of the town's water treatment plant.