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/189/11(b)-R.1), and to the resolution adopted at its 188th session (April 2011),

Recalling the following information on file on the pursuit of justice in the case:

• Lieutenant Carlos Humberto Flores from Military Intelligence B2 was tried for complicity in the murder and acquitted at first and second instance, but the Prosecutor’s Office and Senator Galán's family, as the civil party to the proceedings, filed a cassation petition in the Supreme Court which is pending;

• In 2009, Mr. Galán’s family and the Prosecutor’s Office submitted a cassation petition to the Supreme Court, requesting it to overturn the 2008 decision by the High Court of Cundinamarca to quash a first-instance guilty verdict against Mr. Alberto Santofimio, a politician from Tolima and alleged instigator of the crime;

• 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 6 April 2010, the then Chief Prosecutor ordered his provisional release; on 25 November 2010, however, Mr. Maza was called to trial and rearrested on 15 January 2011;

• 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, former paramilitary leader Mr. Iván Roberto Duque Gaviria, alias "Ernesto Báez", and Captain Luis Felipe Montilla Barbosa, Soacha Police Commander,

Considering that, according to information provided by the source with respect to Mr. Maza, on 1 June 2011 the Prosecutor in his case confirmed his indictment, arguing that there was substantive evidence of his responsibility for the murder; trial proceedings started on 10 October 2011 when the judge in the case, the First Specialized Judge of Bogotá, confirmed that Senator Galán’s murder was a crime against humanity and rejected the defence counsel’s request that the trial be moved to the Supreme Court because of Mr. Maza’s entitlement to privilege; the judge decided that the hearing of witnesses would start on 5 December 2011,

Considering also that, regarding the cassation petition with respect to Mr. Santofimio, on 1 September 2011 the Supreme Court set aside the appeal verdict and upheld the first-instance verdict whereby Mr. Santofimio was sentenced to a 24‑year prison term for having encouraged drug baron Pablo Escobar to have Senator Galán killed in order to prevent the latter from implementing, upon becoming President of Colombia, his intention to extradite drug traffickers to the United States of America,

1. Notes with satisfaction that, after 22 years, the pursuit of justice has finally led to the identification and punishment of an instigator of Senator Galán’s murder and shed significant light on the motive for the crime;

2. Is also gratified that trial proceedings to determine Mr. Maza’s alleged responsibility are well under way; regrets, however, that the Prosecutor’s Office has apparently still not decided on the question whether or not to link formally to the investigation those identified by the Attorney General’s Office more than a year ago; sincerely hopes that it will do so soon so that the full range of criminal responsibility for Senator Galán’s murder can indeed be established; wishes to receive further information on this point and to be kept informed of developments in the proceedings against Mr. Maza;

3. Trusts that the Supreme Court will soon rule on the long-standing cassation petition regarding the alleged role of Lieutenant Carlos Humberto Flores in the crime; wishes to ascertain the prospects for its swift consideration;

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

5. Requests the Committee to continue examining this case and report to it at its next session, to be held during the 126th IPU Assembly (March/April 2012).

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