Government will request review of the Supreme Court of Justice ruling on social protest

After a meeting advanced this Wednesday, in the House of Nariño, together with President Iván Duque and senior government officials, the Minister of Defense, Carlos Holmes Trujillo, pronounced on the ruling of the Civil Cassation Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice that orders the protection of the right to protest.

Regarding the ruling, he stated that the Government will respectfully request “the Constitutional Court to select for the review of the ruling issued by the Civil Cassation Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice on September 22, 2020.”

The ruling in question comes from a protection action filed by a group of people against the President of the Republic, the Minister of Defense and the National Police, for the actions of the Mobile Anti-Riot Squad of the Police, Esmad, in the demonstrations of the past November 21.

The decision has 14 points, among which the 48-hour suspension of the use of 12-gauge shotguns by Esmad members stands out, “until the constitutional quo, after exhaustive verification, confirms the existence of guarantees for the responsible and measured reuse of said instrument “.

For Trujillo, Esmad’s actions only occur “in the face of violent and irrational actions that constitute a crime, violate the rights of people and are not peaceful demonstrations.”

According to the Court, within 30 days the authorities must issue a protocol that allows human rights organizations to verify the arrests and transfers of people during the protests.

For his part, the Defense Minister pointed out that 105 countries, including Colombia, have forces like Esmad to control riots, which “continually update and improve their protocols for action.”

Also read: The use of 12 gauge shotguns in Colombia by Esmad is temporarily suspended

“The actions of members of the public force who violate the law within the framework of the protest are individualized and sanctioned by the competent authorities and the full weight of the law must fall on them,” Trujillo said.

And he immediately added that the Government will continue to face “vandalism and all forms of violence and terrorism, as is its constitutional obligation.”

In the ruling, the high court also ordered the Defense Minister, Carlos Holmes Trujillo, to make a public apology, within 48 hours, for the excesses of the authorities during the demonstrations.

However, they were not presented during this intervention carried out by the holder of the Defense portfolio.

Instead, it stated that Esmad does not incur in excesses, “and in the cases as of November 21, 2019 in which there may have been an excess of the public force, they correspond to individual actions of some of its members, due to non-observance of the law. Constitution, Law, regulations and protocols “.

“These individual behaviors of some of its members, due to non-observance of the Constitution, the Law, the regulations and protocols, are currently the subject of criminal and disciplinary investigations by the competent authorities, who will be called upon to establish, or not, individual responsibility “, he concluded.