IACHR Files Application Before Inter-American Court of Human Rights in Case Concerning Colombia for Impunity of Killing Perpetrated by Army Officers

December 27, 2023

Washington, D.C. – The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) filed on November 6, 2023, an application before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in Case 12,362, with regard to Colombia. This case concerns the lack of adequate safeguards and the failure to provide appropriate judicial protection in the arrest and subsequent killing of Luis Fernando Lalinde by officers of the State in 1984, to the detriment of Lalinde's family.

University student Luis Fernando Lalinde, a member of the Colombian Communist Party, was arrested and later killed by officers of the Ayacucho Infantry Battalion. His remains were buried and are yet to be found. Despite the investigations that have been conducted by both military criminal courts and ordinary criminal courts, lack of evidence led this case to be shelved at the time. Several decades later, in 2014, Colombia's Supreme Court of Justice asked that case files be sent to the Public Prosecutor's Office so the case could be comprehensively reviewed. In spite of this change, the investigation has only made slow progress and no one has been brought to trial for these events.

Simultaneously, Lalinde's family initiated administrative judicial proceedings to seek financial compensation for his arrest and death. This process reaped favorable court decisions in 2000 and 2016, which acknowledged that compensation was due for moral and material harm. However, the failure to make substantial progress in criminal proceedings means that results remain pending in the family's search for justice and accountability.

In its Merits Report, the Commission noted that, although investigations were launched both in ordinary criminal courts and in military criminal courts, the latter handled most of the initial proceedings and eventually took over the investigation fully. The IACHR concluded that, since the case involves allegations of human rights violations rather than operational crimes, this investigation should have been conducted by ordinary criminal courts.

In terms of due diligence, the Commission noted the failure to preserve the site where Luis Fernando Lalinde was buried, which restricted the collection of evidence. The IACHR further noted that military proceedings focused on denying that the victim was indeed Lalinde and said instead that the victim was a rebel identified as "Jacinto." Military authorities failed to take measures to make sure the officers involved were available, and proceedings remained inactive for more than a decade. The Commission found that the State had failed to comply with its duty to ensure an appropriate investigation. The IACHR noted that the delay of more than 37 years also entailed a rights violation and affected the psychological and moral integrity of Luis Fernando Lalinde's family, and that this impact was made worse by the retaliation they suffered for filing formal complaints about these events.

Based on these considerations, the Commission found that the State of Colombia was liable for violations of the rights to personal integrity (Article 5.1), judicial guarantees (Article 8.1), and judicial protection (Article 25.1) held in the American Convention, in keeping with the obligations held in Article 1.1 of the same instrument, to the detriment of Fabiola Lalinde de Lalinde, Jorge Iván Lalinde Lalinde, Mauricio Lalinde Lalinde, and Adriana Lalinde Lalinde.

The Commission therefore recommended that the State of Colombia adopt the following redress measures:

1. Provide comprehensive reparations—both material and immaterial—for all human rights violations mentioned in the report, taking into consideration the payouts that have already been made.
2. Immediately ensure that victims receive comprehensive medical care.
3. Conduct a swift, impartial, complete, and effective judicial investigation into Luis Fernando Lalinde's disappearance and death; explore and comprehensively exhaust all logical lines of investigation in this case; and punish everyone involved in these events.
4. Take measures of non-recurrence, including the provision of training, to ensure that investigations of alleged disappearances meet all applicable standards, especially concerning the duty to respond immediately; ensure that military criminal courts will not hamper investigations of human rights violations, in keeping with inter-American standards.

A principal, autonomous body of the Organization of American States (OAS), the IACHR derives its mandate from the OAS Charter and the American Convention on Human Rights. The Inter-American Commission has a mandate to promote respect for and to defend human rights in the region and acts as a consultative body to the OAS in this area. The Commission is composed of seven independent members who are elected in an individual capacity by the OAS General Assembly and who do not represent their countries of origin or residence.

No. 321/23

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