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Many believed that on Monday, February 20, 2017, when Judge Paula Astrid Jiménez Monroy acquitted Laura Moreno and Jessy Quintero, for the death of the University of the Andes student Luis Andrés Colmenares, the case was closed forever.
But a few days after the tenth anniversary of the death of Luis Andrés, which occurred on October 31, 2010, the controversy over the case revived. Also, the appeal that the Prosecutor’s Office and the criminal lawyer Jaime Lombana, representative of the Colmenares family, presented before the Superior Court of Bogotá to overturn the ruling in favor of Laura and Jessy.
(It may interest you: Can the Colmenares case be reopened for an alleged new photo?)
Laura Milena Moreno and Jessy Mercedes Quintero were acquitted in 2017.
Twelve unpublished photographs of the exhumation of Colmenares’ corpse made by the renowned forensic doctor Máximo Duque, at the request of the family, began to circulate in the media with the version that there was evidence that Luis Andrés was hit in the skull with what it could be a bottle. The photos were not exhibited at the trial out of respect for Colmenares.
(You may be interested: ‘In Colmenares case there was alteration and destruction of evidence’)
Immediately, Jesús Albeiro Yepes, Jessy Quintero’s lawyer, came out to distort the alleged novelty of the photos. He assured EL TIEMPO that they were taken into account at the trial stage and discarded because they were obtained within an exhumation plagued with irregularities, which sought to support the version of false witnesses who spoke of a beating prior to Colmenares’ death. .
Renowned attorney Jaime Lombana represented the Colmenares family.
Héctor Fabio Zamora / TIME
“It was in a town in La Guajira, the body was removed from the vault and the diligence was carried out on the floor, in the open air. He was not taken to the Legal Medicine headquarters to take X-rays. Parts of the body were removed, he even beheaded to access the skull. They did not comply with hydration protocols and bone tissue was forcibly removed that triggered other fractures, “Yepes told EL TIEMPO.
The office to the magistrate
That is why he ruled out that it was new evidence that would give way to the reopening of the case and said that although the Colombian justice allows process reviews, that eventuality only occurs when a supervening evidence appears that has force or an irregularity of weight within the record.
(In context: They denounce damage to Luis Andrés Colmenares’ plaque)
However, it is clear that the case is not judicially closed. Since 2017 he has been in the office of the magistrate Jairo José Agudelo Parra, who has to resolve the appeal.
EL TIEMPO investigated and established that the most recent action in the process dates from April 26, 2019, when the lawyer Lombana passed a memorial requesting the speed of the ruling.
This was the memorial that Jaime Lombana, lawyer for the Colmenares family, sent to the judge in the case.
“… I respectfully go to your Chamber in order to request that the referral process be expedited and the appeal that was filed against the acquittal of February 20, 2017 delivered by the court is promptly decided. criminal of the circuit and by means of which the Laura Milena Moreno Ramírez for the crime of aggravated homicide as improper co-author and Jessi Mercedes Moreno Quintero, for the crime of favoring aggravated homicide …”The attorney wrote in the petition.
Magistrate Agudelo responded 21 days later.
This is Magistrate Agudelo’s response to the Lombana memorial.
In an official letter on May 17, 2019, he recalled that the process consists of 32 folders and 341 CDs and that on average they add up to more than 500 hours of recording. In addition, that a special relief measure was requested to address his analysis, as a result of the high volume of work in the office.
(In context: The harsh testimony of Colmenares’ father, 10 years after his death)
“The above for, demanding your understanding, say thatIn my opinion, in this specific case there is justification for the delay that occurs, despite the dedication and effort given, among other factors, the complexity and volume of the process, in addition to the excessive workload ”, answers the magistrate of the Criminal Chamber of the Superior Court of Bogotá (find the documents at www.eltiempo.com).
However, those close to the process admitted to EL TIEMPO that, in addition to being complex, the Colmenares case has generated substantive legal differences in court.
Everything that happened that night, including the college party, was reconstructed. Five experts participated in the judicial process, including Máximo Duque.
Photo:
Crime or accident
The reason: There is a ruling of the criminal judge 27 of Bogotá, who absolved Carlos Cárdenas (June 6, 2014) of any responsibility. But he said it was a crime.
(We invite you to read: They assure that the Venezuelan Guard betrayed the elenos who were murdered)
“The injuries to the body could not have been caused by a fall, since they were registered in different directions, with various elements and at different times. Evidence indicates that he was violently beaten in at least two moments… ”, said the ruling, and it was confirmed in the second instance by magistrate José Joaquín Urbano.
Carlos Cárdenas was exonerated of charges, but the judge in the case indicated that it was a crime.
On the other hand, there is the decision of criminal judge 11 Paula Jiménez, in which she acquits Laura and Jessy, and says it was an accident.
Now, the magistrate Jairo Agudelo will have to define if he tips the balance towards that ruling or takes into account the one confirmed by his colleague Urbano, who assures that it was a crime. In any case, the decision you make can still escalate, even to the Supreme Court, if it is not allowed to prescribe, as Luis Andrés’s family alerts.
The injuries to the body could not have been caused by a fall, as they were registered in different directions, with various elements and at different times.
This means that it can take years and several Halloween parties before there is a final ruling and the family gets the justice and truth they demand.
Meanwhile, the lawyer Yepes said that he demands that the media guarantee Laura and Jessy their rights to a good name and reputation, according to him, “disqualified every one more anniversary of the tragic death approaches.”
(Check here all the articles of the Investigative Unit of EL TIEMPO)
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