EL TIEMPO [Bogota]
Thursday, 16 March 2000
For the first time in the history of Colombia's justice system, four leaders from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have been convicted of rebellion. Each of them must serve a five-year term in prison and pay a fine equal to 100 current minimum wages.
The Third Criminal Court of Bucaramanga found sufficient evidence to convict Doctor Armando Valbuena Pallares and his wife, psychology professor Socorro Rincon Chinchilla, together with Javier Orlando Marin Rodriguez and his wife, social worker Yolanda Amaya Herrera.
When they were captured on 23rd October 1997, they were part of the Human Development Organization (Corphu), the Socio-Economic Reconstruction Organization (Redes), and the Committee for Solidarity with Political Prisoners.
The four individuals were captured during various operations conducted by troops from the army's 2nd Division acting on requests by a regional prosecutor from Bogota who was investigating their ties to the National Liberation Army (ELN).
The army reported having found a hard disk and various diskettes during its searches that contained accounts in which economic aid received from the European Economic Community (EEC) and Amnesty International (AI) was deposited. The funds were later diverted to finance ELN activities.
The defence has appealed against the court's decision. The parties are now waiting for the Criminal Chamber of the Bucaramanga Court of Appeals to assign the case.
Humberto Torres, one of the convicted individuals' lawyers, said the evidence on which the judge based his decision to convict is unfounded and the lawyer hopes to have the sentence reversed in the appeals court. "Various ELN documents found in the raids were found by the judge to be conclusive proof of guilt; we showed that, in accordance with rights of information, an individual may possess documents from any source. Imagine how many similar documents are in the possession of Victor G. Ricardo and Alvaro Leyva," Torres said.
He also questioned the testimony of the witness called by the Administrative Department of Security (DAS), saying that the fact that the witness is in the witness protection programme "compromises his credibility".
"This witness receives money from the government for his testimony, so he has absolutely no credibility; in fact, his evidence in other cases has been thrown out," he said.
He also said the Attorney-General's Office had based its case on an intelligence report, the use of which as evidence to secure a conviction is prohibited by Law 504 of 1999, as is the evidence of witnesses whose identity is kept confidential.
© 2000 El Tiempo
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