The Governing Council of the Inter-Parliamentary Union,

Referring to the case of Mr. Jaime Ricaurte Hurtado González and Mr. Pablo Vicente Tapia Farinango, a member and substitute member, respectively, of the National Congress of Ecuador who were murdered on 17 February 1999, as outlined in the report of the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians (CL/178/12(b)-R.1), and to the resolution adopted at its 177th session (October 2005),

Taking account of the information provided by the Permanent Delegate of the National Congress of Ecuador to the Inter-Parliamentary Union and by the Attorney General’s Office on 22 February and 5 May 2006, respectively,

Recalling the following: after protracted judicial proceedings, in July 2002 the prosecution summed up the results of its investigation charging two persons, Mr. Aguirre and Mr. Ponce, with the murder and another one, Mr. Merino, with being an accessory to the crime; the three men had been arrested immediately after the murder and in August 2000 sentenced to six years’ imprisonment for their involvement as accessories in the crime; however, in early 2001 they had all been granted early release; the result of the investigation was heavily criticized by the Special Commission of Inquiry (CEI) set up by the Government to monitor the investigation and, in September 2002, the investigating judge ordered additional evidence taking; in October 2003 this led to amendment of the indictment: in addition to Mr. Aguirre and Mr. Ponce, charged with instigating and perpetrating the murder, three other persons were charged with the same crime, two of whom have remained unidentified (only their "aliases" are known); only the third, Mr. Freddy Contreras Luna, is at present in detention since Mr. Aguirre, Mr. Ponce and Mr. Merino have absconded since their release in 2001; arrest warrants were issued against them; moreover, a stay of proceedings in favour of three persons and the dismissal of proceedings against 18 other accused, mainly police officers, was ordered; on 20 December 2004, the indictment was once again amended to the effect that Mr. Merino was charged with being an accomplice and the proceedings against the suspected police officers were not dismissed but stayed,

Considering that, on 20 December 2005, the President of Quito High Court sentenced Mr. Contreras Luna to 16 years’ imprisonment for the crime of murder, and suspended the case for the other accused because they are still at large; Mr. Contreras filed an appeal against the judgement, which is pending before the First Criminal Chamber of the High Court,

Recalling finally that on 22 February 2002, the day after its adviser, Mr. Andocilla, submitted the report of the Special Commission of Inquiry to Congress, he was kidnapped, beaten up and left unconscious, and an investigation was subsequently initiated into that attack,

1. Thanks the authorities for their cooperation and for the information provided;

2. Notes with satisfaction that a judgement has been handed down; and would appreciate receiving a copy of it;

3. Notes, however, that the full truth has not as yet been established since three persons indicted as instigators and perpetrators and one as accomplice are still at large and the proceedings regarding them have been suspended; reiterates its wish to ascertain the measures taken to apprehend them;

4. Wishes to ascertain whether the Ecuadorian Criminal Procedure Code provides for the conviction of suspects in absentia;

5. Also reiterates its wish to ascertain the current stage in the investigation concerning the attack on Mr. Andocilla;

6. Requests the Secretary General to convey this resolution to the authorities and to the CEI, inviting them to provide the requested information;

7. Requests the Committee to continue examining this case and report to it at its next session, to be held during the 115th IPU Assembly (October 2006).

Note: you can download a complete electronic version of the brochure "Results of the 114th IPU Assembly and related meetings in PDF format (file size 503K approximately ). This version requires Adobe Acrobat Reader, which you can download free of charge.

HOME PAGEHUMAN RIGHTSMAIN AREAS OF ACTIVITYIPU STRUCTURE AND DOCUMENTS