New CAPAZ Policy Brief on the first indictment in the JEP
The latest CAPAZ Policy Brief, First indictment in the JEP: hostage-taking and other serious deprivations of liberty committed by the FARC-EP, was written by Kai Ambos, Professor of Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure, Comparative Law, International Criminal Law and Public International Law at the School of Law AT Göttingen University, Germany, and Director of the Centre for Latin American Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure Studies – CEDPAL at the same university; and by law graduate (erstes Staatsexamen) Milena Schellenberger at Heidelberg University, Germany.
The purpose of the text is to analyse the first order of determination of facts and conduct in macro-case 01 (Auto 19), dealing with “Hostage-taking and other serious deprivations of liberty committed by the FARC-EP” made by the Chamber for the Recognition of Truth, Responsibility and the Determination of Facts and Conduct (SRVR) belonging to the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP). “In this historic decision, the JEP for the first time determines high-level command responsibilities, defines patterns of macro-criminality, and classifies them as war crimes and crimes against humanity (non-amnestible)”, explain the investigators.
For full analysis and further recommendations from the authors, see the Línea Azul Policy Brief PB10-2021 (.pdf, in Spanish)
This Policy Brief is part of the CAPAZ Línea Azul publications, which include academic works related to the Integral System of Truth, Justice, Reparation and Non-Repetition (SIVJRNR).
“In addition to the legal implications, this classification has a symbolic value for the victims, whose number of 21,396 people between 1990 and 2016 (in cases of deprivation of liberty) exceeds all previously known records. Recognising war crimes and crimes against humanity, categories characterised by their nature as the ultimate human rights violations and therefore not subject to amnesty, is an important step towards the building of truth and shared memory among Colombians“, say Ambos and Schellenberger. Indeed, one of the researchers’ conclusions is that “the Order demonstrates that the SRVR in its normative interpretation tries to comply with international standards and harmonise the different normative sources. It has a tendency to qualify crimes and responsibilities in a broad and strict manner, which demonstrates the seriousness with which it takes its objective of investigating, prosecuting, and punishing in order to combat impunity. This Order will serve as a frame of reference for the application of the norms and will therefore mark the work of the JEP, above all with regard to the legal qualification of the other macro-cases and the attribution of individual responsibilities”.
Authors/researchers
Kai Ambos
Professor of criminal law and criminal procedure, comparative law, international criminal law, and public international law at the School of Law at Göttingen University, Germany. Director of the Centre for Latin American Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure Studies (CEDPAL) at the same university. Judge of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague, the Netherlands. Amicus curiae of the JEP in Bogotá, Colombia.
Milena Schellenberger
Law degree from Heidelberg University, Germany. Researcher at the Centre for Latin American Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure Studies (CEDPAL) at Göttingen University, Germany, and PhD candidate at Göttingen University, Germany.