The Governing Council of the Inter-Parliamentary Union,

Referring to the case of Mr. Luis Carlos Galán Sarmiento, a member of the Colombian Senate and the New Liberalism party’s candidate in the presidential elections, who was murdered at a political rally on 18 August 1989 in the main square of Soacha municipality, department of Cundinamarca, as outlined in the report of the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians (CL/188/13(b)‑R.1), and to the resolution adopted at its 187th session (October 2010),

Having before it the written report of the on-site mission which the Committee carried out to Colombia from 9 to 13 October 2010 (CL/188/13(b)-R.2),

Recalling the following situation at the time of its last session:

• In 2009 Mr. Galán's family and the Prosecutor's Office submitted a cassation petition to the Supreme Court, requesting it to set aside the 2008 decision by the High Court of Cundinamarca to quash a first-instance guilty verdict against Mr. Alberto Santofimio Botero, a politician from Tolima and one of the alleged masterminds of the murder;

• On 18 August 2009, the Prosecutor's Office arrested General Miguel Maza Márquez, a former Director of the Administrative Department of Security (DAS), on accusations of involvement in Senator Galán's murder; on 4 February 2010, the Chief Prosecutor of Colombia took over the case from the Prosecutor’s National Human Rights Unit owing to a privilege question arising from Mr. Maza’s status as a General at the time of the alleged facts; the source feared at the time that the Chief Prosecutor’s decision could jeopardize progress in the investigation; on 6 April 2010, the Chief Prosecutor ordered the release of Mr. Maza and on 22 June 2010 handed the case back to the Prosecutor's National Human Rights Unit, considering that the allegations against Mr. Maza were unrelated to his functions as Director of DAS; on 14 September 2010, the Procuraduría (Attorney General's Office) sought the indictment of Mr. Maza, having concluded that there was sufficient evidence to prove his criminal responsibility as co‑instigator of the assassination;

• On 25 November 2009, the Attorney General of Colombia, who had formed a special team to conduct the investigations into the murder, requested the Prosecutor's Office to extend the investigation to retired General Oscar Peláez Carmona, who was the Chief of the Criminal Investigation Department at the time and had allegedly acted in complicity with Mr. Maza in misleading and obstructing the original investigation; in March 2010, the Attorney General's Office also asked the Prosecutor’s Office to link to the investigation Mr. Alberto Romero, former DAS intelligence chief, Colonel Manuel Antonio González Enríquez, who served as DAS protection chief, the former paramilitary leader Mr. Iván Roberto Duque Gaviria, alias ‘Ernesto Báez’, and Captain Luis Felipe Montilla Barbosa, Soacha Police Commander;

• In the past, both the source and the Offices of the Prosecutor and the Attorney General have argued that the murder was part of a pattern of persecution of members of Senator Galán's party, and hence a crime against humanity, which would mean that the statute of limitations of 20 years to which the crime of murder is subject in Colombia would not apply,

• On 25 November 2010, Mr. Maza was called to trial; he was rearrested on 15 January 2011; the source is concerned that Mr. Maza's defence counsel are using the fact that a new Chief Prosecutor of Colombia recently, in December 2010, took office to put forward again the privilege question, thus possibly jeopardizing or at least delaying the course of justice;

• The source fears that the Prosecutor's Office may be moving away from its original thesis that Mr. Galán's assassination was a crime against humanity and may now be arguing that the statute of limitations has run its course;

• Despite the fact that more than two years had passed since the submission of the cassation petition to the Supreme Court, the latter had yet to examine the matter, which was now further delayed as the term of the magistrate in charge of the case had recently expired,

1. Thanks the Colombian authorities for hosting the mission and making the necessary arrangements to enable it to carry out its mandate;

2. Commends the delegation for its work and fully endorses the findings and recommendations contained in the report;

3. Reaffirms its belief that the serious suspicion that high-ranking officials of prominent Colombian State law and order institutions were implicated in this high-profile crime should prompt the authorities to continue doing their utmost to shed full light on the matter and establish full accountability; is therefore gratified that the Prosecutor's Office has meanwhile decided on the question of whether or not to bring charges against Mr. Maza; is confident that the Chief Prosecutor of Colombia will ensure that previous decisions and positions adopted by her Office on procedural matters will stand so that criminal proceedings against Mr. Maza can swiftly take place, and that she will soon decide on the question of whether or not to link formally to the investigation those identified by the Attorney General's Office; looks forward to receiving specific information from the Prosecutor's Office on these points;

4. Is concerned that consideration of the cassation petition appears to be at a standstill; recalls the principle that "justice delayed is justice denied"; and considers this principle to be all the more important in this case, which concerns the murder of a high-profile person for which - 21 years later - none of the perpetrators or instigators have been held to account; calls on the Supreme Court therefore to act on the petition as a matter of urgency;

5. Requests the Secretary General to convey this resolution to the competent authorities and to the source;

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 125th IPU Assembly (October 2011).

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