The Office of the Attorney General of Colombia ruled that the August 13, 1999 murder of journalist Jaime Garzón cannot be characterized as a crime against humanity.
According to the Attorney General, when it analyzed the characteristics of the crime, it did not find “evidence to make a decision in that regard.” In other words, there was no evidence “of a widespread and systematic against the civilian population.” However, it added that a different decision could be made in the future.
In recent years, relatives of Garzón along with organizations such as the Foundation for Press Freedom (FLIP for its acronym in Spanish), the Colombian Commission of Jurists (CCJ) and the Collective of Lawyers 'José Alvear Restrepo' (Cajar) have been advocating for the crime to be qualified as one against humanity.
The main objective is to avoid expiration of the statute of limitations, which would leave the crime unpunished. In Colombian law, after 20 years of the commission of a crime, the statute of limitations applies. This means that time has expired to make the necessary investigations and find the culprits in the case.
The impunity in crimes against journalists as a result of this legislation is one of the biggest concerns of families of victims and advocacy organizations for press freedom, such as the FLIP. Homicides like Guillermo Cano's, director of El Espectador, and Eustorgio Colmenares Baptista, director of La Opinion, have been reclassified as crimes against humanity. The crimes against Jineth Bedoya were also classified in this manner. When a crime is classified as a crime against humanity, statutes of limitations do not apply.
Although the statute of limitations for Garzón's murder may expire in 2019, his relatives and other organizations are concerned, given that little progress that has been made in the case for almost 16 years.
The prosecution said there was no risk that the statute of limitations will expire and that "it continues to investigate others who may have participated in the murder," said Colprensa.
The former head of the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia ( AUC ), Carlos Castaño, was convicted of the murder in 2004. In June 2011, the attorney general accused José Miguel Narváez, former deputy director of the defunct Department of Administrative Security (DAS), of being the alleged mastermind of the murder.
On June 9, the Attorney General also confirmed the indictment against Jorge Eliecer Plazas Acevedo, a retired Army colonel. Plazas Acevedo was called to trial, accused of being the intellectual author of the crime, Semana magazine reported.
Garzón was murdered in Bogotá on his way to the Radionet facilities where he worked. According to the attorney general, Garzón's murder was planned by paramilitaries and corrupt military members, Semana reported. According to FLIP, the death of 90 journalists preceded Garzón's, "and his death continued a tragic period for press freedom in Colombia." In four years (1999-2002) 32 journalists were killed for reasons related to their work, FLIP said.
Note from the editor: This story was originally published by the Knight Center’s blog Journalism in the Americas, the predecessor of LatAm Journalism Review.
