Joint letter on the alleged illegal espionage against Colombian lawyers
27 juli 2020

Joint letter on the alleged illegal espionage against Colombian lawyers

Colombia

In a joint letter the Colombian Caravana, and Lawyers for Lawyers together with nine human rights organizations, expressed concerns about recent allegations of the Colombian National Army’s unlawful surveillance activities of 130 individuals, including lawyers of the José Alvear Restrepo Collective (Colectivo de Abogados José Alvear Restrepo – CCAJAR), lawyers of the Inter-church Commission of Justice and Peace (Comisión Intereclesial Justicia y Paz – CIJP) and other human rights defenders.

According to reports published in the Semana magazine, the alleged illegal espionage was part of a mass surveillance scheme carried out between February and December 2019.

In January 2020, members of CIJP were subject to alleged illegal surveillance on at least two occasions. On 30 January, Camilo Álvarez and Danilo Rueda, respectively a member and the Executive Secretary of CIJP, were followed and photographed by an unknown man, upon them leaving a university centre where they had been promoting the Peace University initiative. The signatories have also received reports that Danilo Rueda, was declared the target of an assassination plot.

On multiple occasions, in January 2020, drones were spotted flying over the CIJP offices. Further, on 30 January 2020, a drone was found fallen in the courtyard of the home of Daniel Prado (lawyer, associated with the CIJP), in Bogotá.

In October 2019, lawyer Germán Romero, reported information theft, followings, calls, and a direct death threat from an unidentified individual. These incidents occurred in the context of Mr Romero’s multiple investigations into High Commanders of the Armed Forces and their alleged responsibility for extrajudicial executions and enforced disappearances.

Moreover, it has been well publicised that CCAJAR was one of the many organisations subject to ‘Operation Transmilenio’ by the now defunct Administrative Department of Security (Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad – DAS) between 2002 and 2010. It is understood that the purported aim of the operation was to disrupt and dismantle target organisations. Surveillance activity was not limited to CCAJAR members but also extended to their family members. We understand that to date, there remain demands for further investigations into these acts in order to see those with overarching responsibility for these crimes brought to account.

The signatories note that Colombia has a history of State-enacted illegal intelligence activities against lawyers and other human rights defenders and that this illegitimate surveillance is alleged to have led to serious crimes, such as assassination attempts and murders.

The signatories therefore, amongst other things, call upon the Colombian government to immediately end all acts of intimidation and surveillance against human rights defenders and particularly against lawyers in Colombia, ensuring that any surveillance carried out on any individual complies with human rights standards, and decisions to undertake surveillance are made independently and are necessary, proportionate, legitimate, transparent, and subject to appropriate oversight and regulation.

The Spanish version of the letter can be found here.

 

Meer nieuws uit Colombia

15 maart 2023

Concerns about the ongoing threats, kidnapping and harassment against Colombian lawyer Andrea Torres Bautista

Colombia

Lawyers for Lawyers is concerned about the ongoing threats, harassment and the lack of progress in the investigations of aggressions towards Andrea Torres Bautista, Colombian human rights lawyer and co-director of the Fundación Nydia Erik Bautista (FNEB). Andrea Torres heads

Lees verder
22 december 2022

Adil Meléndez Marquez: “When starting a legal case, there is no guarantee at all that it will ever be treated, let alone that environmental and human rights violations are actually punished”

Colombia

Illustration: Joost Hölscher Adil Meléndez Márquez, 46 years old and born in San Onofre, department of Sucre, Colombia, lives in the north of Colombia in Cartagena de las Indias. He works as an environmental and human rights lawyer and mainly

Lees verder
7 november 2022

Letter to Colombian authorities on the risk situation of lawyer Luz Romero Villalba and the Association COLEMAD

Colombia

Together with the International Observatory at Risk (OIAD), Lawyers for Lawyers, International Caravan of Jurists, Lawyers Rights Watch Canada and Global Justice Association, has informed the Colombian authorities of its concern about the information received regarding the situation of Luz

Lees verder
26 september 2022

Lawyers in Colombia hopeful about new left-wing government

Colombia

At the invitation of Colombian lawyers and human rights activists, the International Caravana of Lawyers, an international fact-finding mission, visited Colombia from 21 to 28 August. During the mission, an international delegation, including Wout Albers from Lawyers for Lawyers, held

Lees verder