The Governing Council of the Inter-Parliamentary Union,

Referring to the case concerning the assassination of Mr. Pedro Nel Jiménez Obando, Mr. Leonardo Posada Pedraza, Mr. Octavio Vargas Cuéllar, Mr. Pedro Luis Valencia Giraldo, Mr. Bernardo Jaramillo Ossa, Mr. Manuel Cepeda Vargas and Mr. Octavio Sarmiento Bohórquez, all of whom were members of the parliament of Colombia and, with the exception of Mr. Sarmiento, of the Unión Patriótica (Patriotic Union) political party, as outlined in the report of the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians (CL/179/11(a)-R.1), and to the resolution adopted at its 178th session (May 2006),

Recalling the following information regarding the judicial proceedings concerning the murder of the parliamentarians concerned:

• in January 2001, the conviction and sentence of two non-commissioned officers each to 43 years' imprisonment for the murder of Senator Cepeda was upheld on appeal; however, paramilitary group leader Carlos Castaño Gil was acquitted despite unambiguous acknowledgments of his responsibility in the book My Confession and in live radio and written press interviews; Mr. Cepeda's family lodged a petition regarding his acquittal with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, which in December 2005 agreed to deal with its merits forthwith;

• in November 2001 Carlos Castaño was found guilty in absentia of the murder of Mr. Jaramillo, but was never arrested for this crime; he disappeared in April 2004 and a paramilitary leader has recently publicly stated that he was in fact killed by rival paramilitary groups;

• Mr. Jesús Emiro Pereira Rivera was, after having been acquitted at first instance, convicted on appeal of the murder of Mr. Sarmiento and given a 40-year prison sentence;

• investigations in the cases of Mr. Jiménez, Mr. Posada and Mr. Valencia have been abandoned,

Noting that, in her latest report on the human rights situation in Colombia of May 2006 (E/CN.4/2006/9), the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights "encourages the Government to adopt and implement a public policy to combat impunity ..." and exhorts the judiciary and the Office of the Prosecutor General "to investigate and sanction human rights violations and breaches of international humanitarian law in an adequate and timely manner",

1. Deeply regrets that after seven years the friendly settlement procedure, which would have permitted a settlement also in the cases in question, has failed, and that the procedure on the merits of the case may well take many more years and so once again delay the prospect of justice being done;

2. Notes, however, that the IACHR has decided to deal with Senator Cepeda's case forthwith, and would appreciate receiving information on the current stage of the proceedings in this case and more generally on the proceedings regarding the Unión Patriótica case as such;

3. Reiterates that, under international human rights law and the American Convention on Human Rights, the State of Colombia is obliged to make a determined effort to ensure that justice is done by holding perpetrators of human rights abuses to account and by providing victims and their families with reparation; andthat the proceedings pending before the IACHR do not dispense them of these duties; urges the authorities to comply with those duties;

4. Notes that Mr. Sarmiento's killer has been identified and sentenced; and decides consequently to close his case;

5. Requests the Secretary General to inform the competent authorities and the source of this resolution and to seek the requested information;

6. Requests the Committee to continue examining this case and report to it at its next session, to be held on the occasion of the 116th Assembly (April-May 2007).

Note: you can download a complete electronic version of the brochure "Results of the 115th IPU Assembly and related meetings in PDF format (file size 493K approximately ). This version requires Adobe Acrobat Reader, which you can download free of charge.

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