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Amnesty International warned on Friday that Colombia’s military criminal justice system’s continued use of military courts to handle killings, torture, enforced disappearances, and other grave abuses by soldiers and police is a structural engine of impunity.
In a new report, the rights group concluded that the military criminal justice system, known as the Justicia Penal Militar (JPM), remains deeply embedded in cases involving potential human rights violations and crimes under international law. Amnesty International Americas Director Ana Piquer stated that the continued intervention “is not a technical error” but “a structural obstacle that contributes to impunity.”
Although Colombia’s constitutional and legal framework has undergone significant reform since the 1990s, and the Constitutional Court has repeatedly held that human rights cases belong in ordinary courts, military judges and prosecutors continue to claim jurisdiction over allegations of homicide, excessive force, and other serious misconduct by the armed forces and the National Police. Amnesty International’s analysis of 398 jurisdictional conflicts brought before the Constitutional Court between 2021 and 2024 revealed that both military and civilian judicial actors still incorrectly assign these cases to the JPM, frequently derailing investigations and obstructing victims’ access to justice.
Although the National Police is formally a civilian institution, its members continue to be investigated and tried inside the military jurisdiction. Amnesty International argued that the practice directly violates international standards, which prohibit military judges from hearing cases involving civilians or potential human rights violations. According to the organization, the only durable solution is a constitutional amendment removing the National Police from the scope of military criminal jurisdiction altogether.
Under the Convention against Torture, Colombia is obligated to ensure that all allegations of torture are investigated and prosecuted by impartial and competent authorities. Domestically, the problem lies in the lingering ambiguity of Article 221 of the Colombian Constitution and the Military Penal Code, both of which still allow jurisdictional maneuvering. The country’s constitution continues to place the civilian National Police under military criminal jurisdiction, and the statutory definition of crimes “in the course of service” is broad enough to invite expansion. As a result, homicide and abuse-of-authority cases tied to police operations still migrate into the military system, despite three decades of Constitutional Court rulings requiring the opposite.
Amnesty International situated today’s reported failures within a decades-old pattern. The organization highlighted emblematic cases such as the enforced disappearance of Luis Fernando Lalinde and Nydia Erika Bautista in the 1980s, where military courts’ assumed jurisdiction and impunity persists four decades later. The same dynamic, the report noted, has marked investigations into protestors injured or killed by National Police officers over the past 20 years. While Colombian jurisprudence makes clear these cases must be handled by civilian courts, prosecutors and judges across both systems misdirect them into the JPM, delaying proceedings and undermining accountability.
Amnesty International called on the Colombian government to constitutionally exclude the National Police from military jurisdiction, enact legislative reforms that expressly bar the JPM from handling human rights-related crimes, prevent military authorities from opening such investigations in the first place, and require that any current cases be immediately transferred to the ordinary criminal justice system. The organization also urged comprehensive, mandatory training for both military and civilian justice operators on international standards and Constitutional Court jurisprudence.
The post Colombia urged to reform military jurisdiction over human rights cases appeared first on JURIST - News.
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In a new report, the rights group concluded that the military criminal justice system, known as the Justicia Penal Militar (JPM), remains deeply embedded in cases involving potential human rights violations and crimes under international law. Amnesty International Americas Director Ana Piquer stated that the continued intervention “is not a technical error” but “a structural obstacle that contributes to impunity.”
Although Colombia’s constitutional and legal framework has undergone significant reform since the 1990s, and the Constitutional Court has repeatedly held that human rights cases belong in ordinary courts, military judges and prosecutors continue to claim jurisdiction over allegations of homicide, excessive force, and other serious misconduct by the armed forces and the National Police. Amnesty International’s analysis of 398 jurisdictional conflicts brought before the Constitutional Court between 2021 and 2024 revealed that both military and civilian judicial actors still incorrectly assign these cases to the JPM, frequently derailing investigations and obstructing victims’ access to justice.
Although the National Police is formally a civilian institution, its members continue to be investigated and tried inside the military jurisdiction. Amnesty International argued that the practice directly violates international standards, which prohibit military judges from hearing cases involving civilians or potential human rights violations. According to the organization, the only durable solution is a constitutional amendment removing the National Police from the scope of military criminal jurisdiction altogether.
Under the Convention against Torture, Colombia is obligated to ensure that all allegations of torture are investigated and prosecuted by impartial and competent authorities. Domestically, the problem lies in the lingering ambiguity of Article 221 of the Colombian Constitution and the Military Penal Code, both of which still allow jurisdictional maneuvering. The country’s constitution continues to place the civilian National Police under military criminal jurisdiction, and the statutory definition of crimes “in the course of service” is broad enough to invite expansion. As a result, homicide and abuse-of-authority cases tied to police operations still migrate into the military system, despite three decades of Constitutional Court rulings requiring the opposite.
Amnesty International situated today’s reported failures within a decades-old pattern. The organization highlighted emblematic cases such as the enforced disappearance of Luis Fernando Lalinde and Nydia Erika Bautista in the 1980s, where military courts’ assumed jurisdiction and impunity persists four decades later. The same dynamic, the report noted, has marked investigations into protestors injured or killed by National Police officers over the past 20 years. While Colombian jurisprudence makes clear these cases must be handled by civilian courts, prosecutors and judges across both systems misdirect them into the JPM, delaying proceedings and undermining accountability.
Amnesty International called on the Colombian government to constitutionally exclude the National Police from military jurisdiction, enact legislative reforms that expressly bar the JPM from handling human rights-related crimes, prevent military authorities from opening such investigations in the first place, and require that any current cases be immediately transferred to the ordinary criminal justice system. The organization also urged comprehensive, mandatory training for both military and civilian justice operators on international standards and Constitutional Court jurisprudence.
The post Colombia urged to reform military jurisdiction over human rights cases appeared first on JURIST - News.
Continue reading...
Note: We don't have any responsibilities about this news. Its been posted here by Feed Reader and we had no controls and checking on it. And because News posted here will be deleted automatically after 21 days, threads are closed so that no one spend time to post and discuss here. You can always check the source and discuss in their site.