Government proposes to Jineth Bedoya a friendly solution in the Inter-American Court

The National Agency for Legal Defense of the State, headed by Camilo Gómez, sought the journalist Jineth Bedoya to reach a “friendly solution”, after having withdrawn from the public hearing called by the Inter-American Court. The defense of the journalist described this approach as a new harassment.

A shower of criticism has fallen on Camilo Gómez, director of the National Agency for Legal Defense of the State, after he withdrew from the public hearing convened by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights on March 15, after which it will be decided Colombia’s responsibility for the torture and sexual violence suffered by journalist Jineth Bedoya in May 2000. In the midst of the storm of comments, Gómez sought out the communicator to find “a friendly solution.”

In context: The Colombian State withdrew from the hearing on the Jineth Bedoya case before the Inter-American Court

In a recent statement, Camilo Gómez explained that the Government “does not want the procedural problems to continue delaying the closing of the case” and, for this reason, asked the journalist Jineth Bedoya to sit down and talk and seek a “friendly solution”. which would be allowed by the regulations of the Inter-American Court. According to the National Legal Defense Agency, several years ago the state proposed an arrangement to Bedoya, but it was not possible to reach an agreement.

“I understand your concern and that of many women who see time go by without reaching the conclusion of a process like this. As I said at the hearing, Colombia has announced that it will acknowledge responsibility for some aspects that we have carefully analyzed and will present arguments about others in which it considers its conduct should be evaluated (…) I know that there are many days, months and years that you have spent suffering on account of the reprehensible acts of which you were a victim and that no woman should suffer ”, explained Camilo Gómez.

In response to the Government’s request, the defense of Jineth Bedoya published a statement through the Foundation for Press Freedom (Flip), in which it assured that “the channels chosen by the director of the State Defense Agency do not they are appropriate in the framework of an ongoing litigation and denote the bad practices of the State’s defense ”. On the other hand, the journalist assured that Gómez tried through various channels to obtain a quick response, which would constitute an “act of harassment and malicious litigation”, which does not respond to the dignity of the process.

On March 15, the Inter-American Court heard the testimony of the journalist and social activist Jineth Bedoya, who on May 25, 2000 was kidnapped by a group of paramilitaries in the La Modelo prison, in Bogotá, to later access and leave her on public roads. For hours, Bedoya explained the nightmare that denouncing her story has meant, for which they continue to threaten her with death. However, empowered by her movement “No Es Hora de Callar”, the deputy editor of Time He has promised to be the voice of those who have suffered similar episodes.

Bedoya’s words were so moving that even Judge Elizabeth Odio Benito, president of the Inter-American Court, sent a message of support to a woman who has made herself a project for other women journalists: “I personally want to thank you, express my admiration and gratitude, I have been fighting for many years for this cause of which you are a symbol, we have uselessly carried our voice to all areas of national and international justice. At the same time, examples such as yours, your courage, your courage, of course, fill those of us who follow in this fight with more courage ”.

In context: Jineth Bedoya: “I know my life is at risk, but it is no reason to shut up.”

“What is involved here is the lack of guarantees and objectivity in this process. This position of the Colombian State has to be with the obligation of the judges to be impartial. It is not about not being courteous to the victim, to whom we all owe the utmost respect. It is about not prejudging a State that presents itself with humility before the Inter-American Court and that puts its face before the victim, ”said Camilo Gómez on March 15.

In the afternoon of this March 17, in addition, the director of legal affairs of the Government assured that the international process has made Jineth Bedoya wait for around 10 years and, on the other hand, that Colombia “has led several actions to reduce the enormous delays that a victim has to endure due to delays before the Inter-American System, especially in the proceedings before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) Just thinking about the pain of his and his family makes my soul shudder ”.

Also read: After hearing Jineth Bedoya, the Government asks the JEP to open a case of sexual violence.

On June 3, 2011, the IACHR received the Bedoya case folders at the request of the Foundation for Press Freedom (Flip). After three years, the Inter-American Commission agreed to study the file. During the process, the Government asked the IACHR to be declared innocent, “because the state authorities have carried out different actions of a criminal and disciplinary nature, as well as protection and reparation measures in order to safeguard the rights of the alleged victim.” , as explained in a report from December 2018. As an agreement was never reached and the State did not comply with the recommendations, the IACHR sent the papers to the Inter-American Court, which in 2019 agreed to study the possible conviction of Colombia.

Before the files reached the Inter-American Court, the Government explained in the inter-American system that “it has assumed its duty with all seriousness, impartiality and speed”, since it had obtained the sentence to 28 years in prison of Mario Jaimes Mejía, alias Baker; the declaration as a crime against humanity of the nightmare lived by Bedoya, for which his investigation will not prescribe; the identification of the objective of the attack: to intimidate the journalist; and “progress in clarifying the facts,” the IACHR explained about the State in a report of December 7, 2018.

In 2016, adds Jonathan Bock, president of Flip, the government proposed to Jineth Bedoya to negotiate a first friendly settlement agreement, however, the journalist rejected the proposal, as it was revictimizing for her. “The claim was limited to an economic fact without recognition of the responsibility of the State and without progress in overcoming the scenario of impunity,” explained Bock in an interview with The viewer. In addition, the foundation added that the delay in the process and the absence of justice, for more than 20 years, are “the responsibility of the ineffectiveness and lack of political will of the Colombian State.”