The Twelve Apostles

High profile trial observation. Chapter One: the prosecutor sums up.

By Professor Sara Chandler, QC (Hon) Past President CHWLS

For the last twelve months members of the Colombia Caravana, WHLS International Committee, the Law Society Human Rights Committee and the Bar Human Rights Committee have been participating in the observation of a high profile trial in Medellín, Colombia. Westminster & Holborn Law Society members have been involved with Colombia since 2005 and over the last fifteen years have participated in the international delegations which go to Colombia to investigate the situation of judges and lawyers.

The trial is called The Twelve Apostles, and the defendant is Santiago Uribe Velez, brother of the former President of Colombia, Alvaro Uribe Velez. The charges are concerning the organisation of para military groups, torture, homicide, and crimes against humanity. The first complaints by victims of the paramilitary groups were reported 26 years ago, and the prosecution received more than 500 statements from victims.

The trial observations commenced in December 2018, and continued in April, and then May 2019, with the final hearing listed for 5 days in November 2019. Colombia Caravana members Alexander Zernova and Sara Chandler joined lawyers from Spain, and from the Bar Human Rights Committee in Medellín on 6th November. Having flown in at 7.00 in the morning, the team was ready in Court just after 9.00am, for a long day, hearing the prosecution summing up the charges, and the evidence that they had presented to the court. The presentation was accompanied by a power point presentation which was very thorough and ensured that every witness was listed correctly before the court, with the precise points that the prosecutor was making.

Present in Court before a single Judge (Judge Jaime Herrera Niño) was the prosecution team of two (known as the “Fiscalia”), and the Defence team (Defence lawyer and a spokesperson for the defendant, known as a “vocero”). It is permitted that if a person does not wish to address the Court personally they can pay a spokesperson to do so in their stead). Also present are two more teams: the lawyers for the victims, and the Procurador, an official lawyer who represents the interests of society.

The prosecutor made a thorough presentation of the summary of the case against the defendant, Santiago Uribe Velez, and the court heard from the procurator and the lawyers for the victims. Everyone was ready for the defence to start their summary, for which they had been given three days. The court was surprised to hear a request from the defence for an adjournment. The “vocero”, claimed to have been appointed late in the trial process and need time to prepare against the charge of crimes against humanity. The Judge said he would consider it, and asked for comments from the lawyers from all the other parties.

12 CENTRAL LONDON LAWYER The decision was for an adjournment, actually the fourth adjournment of the final hearing in this trial, which has been in court since 2017. The observation team had attended since December 2018 and had witnessed three adjournments already, so it was not so surprising. In a meeting with the Judge next day, we were told that he had multiple cases and has to put them, aside each time there is a new adjournment. He decided to allow the defence five days for their summing up. It is interesting that the Colombian criminal justice system is in transition and there are two systems in operation. There is the Special Jurisdiction for the Peace, where former guerrillas or para militaries can confess to their crimes and get lower sentences than they would in the criminal courts. In the criminal courts the inquisitorial system is being replaced in part by the adversarial system. Because of the length of this case, over 26 years, including a period when it was shelved, both systems have been used. In the initial stage it is the prosecutor who carries out the investigation, then the second stage is the proof stage, and the third stage is the oral hearings.

The facts of the case are that in a farm called La Carolina, it is alleged that the farm owner, the defendant, organised and arranged finance through local businesses of a para military group. The group allegedly had members among the local police and a Catholic priest. At the heart of the activities of the group it is alleged that they used a list of people who were considered undesirable and they would kill. Some witnesses gave evidence to the prosecutor that they knew that their family member was on the list, and then they were killed. Targets included prostitutes, drug addicts, thieves, members of the LGBT community, and people considered to be helping the guerrillas. The homicide at the centre of the case was of a man who was a local bus driver believed to be helping the guerrillas by giving them lifts in his bus. It is alleged that he was taken off the bus by the para militaries and killed. The defendant is charged with organising.

It is a tense atmosphere in the court and at times perplexing. The court is in a modern building, a 26 floor tower block, and the public sit on bare wooden bench seats. The hearings started at 9.00am and ended at 7.00pm when the building closed. Unlike the UK, each morning the press take up prime position in front of the public, with 4 or 5 cameras on tripods dominating the area and obscuring the view for then public. In the coffee breaks and lunch breaks there is often an interview taking place in the corridor outside the court, with the lawyers speaking about the case.

The international team are there to observe that due process is followed in compliance with international norms for a fair trial. This case has been marked by threats and attacks. One of the lawyers for the victims, Daniel Prado, has had threats, harassment and smear campaigns. Soon after the arrest, the accused’s brother, former president and current senator Álvaro Uribe Vélez, accused Mr Prado of being a member of a guerrilla group in a public video. A campaign was launched against Daniel Prado on Twitter, calling him an “imposter” and calling for his arrest. After the preparatory hearings, during late 2017, Mr Prado reported receiving several death threats in the form of phone calls to his land line telephone, and receiving messages at his office. It has been reported that he has been frequently followed by individuals and threatened. Action by the Colombian State National Protection Unit has been called for to provide him with protection.

This case will run and run it seems. Lawyers for the defence will sum up over two new hearing dates to be reported on in Chapter Two. WHLS members who are interested should go to www.colombincaravana.org.uk ■