(IPYS/IFEX) – The Neiva Special Court has acquitted developer Fernando Bermúdez Ardila, Víctor Félix Trujillo Calderon (alias “Media Vida”) and Alfaro Quintero Alvarado (alias “El Gordo”), who were accused of murdering journalist Nelson Carvajal Carvajal on 16 April 1998, in Pitalito, department of Huila, southwestern Colombia. In his ruling, Judge José Luis Ossa Barrios said […]
(IPYS/IFEX) – The Neiva Special Court has acquitted developer Fernando Bermúdez Ardila, Víctor Félix Trujillo Calderon (alias “Media Vida”) and Alfaro Quintero Alvarado (alias “El Gordo”), who were accused of murdering journalist Nelson Carvajal Carvajal on 16 April 1998, in Pitalito, department of Huila, southwestern Colombia.
In his ruling, Judge José Luis Ossa Barrios said that “there are weaknesses in the evidence, which has all been hypothesis and suppositions that are not strong enough to make a conviction.” He also dismissed the testimony given by witnesses for the prosecution, saying that they “lacked credibility.” The Superior Court, which will make a final decision, will review the decision.
For his part, defence lawyer Alirio Jiménez Bolaños publicly called on the judge to acquit all of the accused, due to a lack of evidence proving that they are guilty. Bermúdez is accused of being the mastermind behind the murder, and Trujillo and Quintero are accused of carrying out the murder itself.
Jiménez also discredited the witnesses, whose identities remained hidden, in accordance with a process called “justice without a face”, saying that there were inconsistencies in their testimonies. He added that the prosecution did not recognise reports from the army’s intelligence service, which stated that Carvajal’s murder was committed on the orders of Oswaldo Patiño, then commander of the Thirteenth Front of the Armed Revolutionary Forces of Colombia (FARC).
Nevertheless, IPYS learned that prosecutor Cecilia Giraldo Saavedra asked the judge to hand down a conviction of homicide for terrorist ends and denied the guerrillas’ participation in the murder.
The prosecution initially considered three hypotheses about the possible perpetrators of Carvajal’s murder. The first hypothesis suggested that it was committed by common criminals. The other two hypotheses pointed toward guerrillas from FARC’s Thirteenth Front and individuals who had been affected by Carvajal’s ongoing condemnations of administrative corruption that were broadcast on the news programme Momento Regional.
The third theory grew in strength following the testimony of several people, who assured that Bermúdez had tried to bribe Carvajal by offering him two million pesos per month if he would stop reporting on the presumed structural failings of the Prado de las Acacias urban development project that was being built by the Bermúdez Llanos company, which Bermúdez owned.
According to the witnesses, after Carvajal rejected the bribe, Bermúdez, who is a former Pitalito town councillor, initiated a series of public and phone threats against Carvajal.
Because of those testimonies, the Human Rights Unit of the Public Prosecutor’s Office brought charges against Bermúdez, Trujillo and Quintero, and ruled out the other two hypotheses.
Bermúdez, who spent twenty-three months detained in the La Picota prosecutor’s buildings, said that the Public Prosecutor’s Office was mislead, and that he was a victim of political persecution. “I will continue to work in Neiva as a builder and urban developer, because that is the only work I know how to do,” he stated.
Carvajal, 35 and married, was shot ten times as he was leaving the Los Pinos school, where he worked as a teacher. He also managed a news programme on the Radio Sur de Pitalito station, which is owned by the RCN radio group, and was a councillor for Conservative Party.
This year, ten journalists have been murdered in Colombia, while many others have been threatened, censored or forced into exile. It is standard practice for guerrilla and paramilitary groups to capture journalists, and these inicidents have been increasing in the past few months. The most recent such incident was the Wiston Vicarachá case. The journalist has been a captive of the ELN since Friday 15 December 2000 (see IFEX alert of 21 December 2000).
Recommended Action
Send appeals to authorities:
- demanding that investigations into the murder be increased in order to identify and punish the perpetrators and to ensure that, unlike many other cases of murdered journalists, Carvajal’s death does not go unpunished
Appeals To
Andrés Pastrana Arango
President of the Republic
Carrera 8 No. 7-26 Bogotá
Fax: +571 336 21 09 / 286 79 37 / 286 74 34
E-mail: www.presidencia.gob.co
Alfonso Gomez Méndez
Attorney General
Diagonal 22B No. 52-01
Fax: +571 570 20 00, ext. 1587
E-mail: contacto@fiscalia.gob.co
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
