JEP reviewed precautionary measures on the San Martín de Aguachica cemetery

The First Instance Section for cases of Lack of Recognition of the JEP, held the public hearing to follow up on precautionary measures on the San Martín de Aguachica cemetery, known as the cemetery of the poor, over which the JEP has special actions.

In the follow-up procedure, it was verified whether the Technical Board updated the minimum standards for the search, recovery, identification, dignified delivery and disposal of the bodies.

Several State entities and civil organizations participate in this diligence, such as the Prosecutor’s Office, Legal Medicine, the National Movement of Victims of State Crimes, Movice, the Colombian Interdisciplinary Team for Forensic Work and Psychosocial Assistance and Equitas.

“Today we have a lot to show for our work with victims, but it is not enough. This hearing is a reflection that leads us to key solutions,” said the president of the First Instance Section, Gustavo Salazar.

The first to intervene was Adriana Arboleda, from Movice, who stressed that the Prosecutor’s Office’s exercise in identifying and recovering the bodies was important, but they have two bottlenecks: there is nowhere to dispose of the bodies and Forensic Medicine has nowhere to receive them.

“In this technical table and in other scenarios we have undertaken a restorative approach. It is necessary to involve other entities, local administrators and the National Center of Historical Memory,” said Adriana Arboleda.

Furthermore, he maintained that the standards “will act not as a maximum, but as a minimum of the processes that should be carried out. Adjustments were made to the drafting and background document where methodologies were proposed that could be articulated in the different institutions.

Carlos Murillo, deputy director of Forensic Services of Legal Medicine, explained that one of its emphases is to update the standards to strengthen the participation of victims.

“In general terms, of the seven chapters that the standards had, it ended up having six chapters. It was decided to change the name, such as: ‘Standards for the search for missing persons,’” ​​the official said.

Meanwhile, Carlos Marín, representing the Search Unit for Missing Persons, also highlighted the importance of inter-institutional coordination for the recovery and identification of bodies and emphasized that the territorial teams of the Search Unit will comply with the standards.

The president of the Section of Absence of Recognition of Truth, Judge Gustavo Salazar, indicated that the JEP has asked for support from institutions with extensive international experience in the search for people so that there is more effectiveness.

“There is a consensus that is not absolute. Since these absolute consensuses are not achieved, the idea is to adopt norms and the judiciary will decide what has to be done. It is an imperfect scenario, a process that is adjustable, but decisions must be made,” Salazar concluded.

Jairo Acosta, delegate of the Attorney General’s Office, asked questions to representatives of various institutions and made some considerations to improve the people search processes.

Finally, in response to the appeal for reconsideration presented by the Prosecutor’s Office, stating that the update of the standards for searching for people was not officially sent to him, the JEP decided to give him a period of five days to present his observations in writing.
The Fals Borda collective and Movice also have five business days to send their observations. “This is with the purpose of collecting in a single document all the observations raised by the different entities,” reported Judge Raúl Sánchez.

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