Colombia: State condemned for torture and rape of journalist Jineth Bedoya
Colombian journalist Jineth Bedoya on March 23, 2021 in Bogota.
She was kidnapped, tortured and raped in 2000 by paramilitaries.
© JUAN BARRETO / AFP
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) recognized this Monday, October 19, the "
responsibility
" of the Colombian state in the ordeal of Jineth Bedoya.
This journalist was kidnapped, raped and tortured in 2000 by paramilitaries.
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The Colombian state was found guilty for "
the failure to investigate the threats received
" by the journalist, who was investigating a criminal network, the judicial body of the Organization of Humanities said in a statement. United States States (OAS) headquartered in San José, Costa Rica. He was guilty of "
violation of the rights to judicial guarantees, judicial protection and equality before the law due to lack of diligence in carrying out investigations
", according to the Court.
Hoy, the @CorteIDH notificó a @CIDH la sentencia del caso Jineth Bedoya, in the cual declara al Estado de # Colombia🇨🇴 responsible internacionalmente for the privación de libertad, tortura, violación sexual, y la impunidad parcial del caso, en perjuicio de the periodista y su madre.👇🏽
- Relatoría Especial p / la Libertad Expresión (CIDH) (@RELE_CIDH) October 18, 2021
Jineth Bedoya, now 47, was working for the newspaper
El Espectador
when a group of paramilitaries kidnapped her on May 25, 2000 in front of La Modelo prison in Bogota, then tortured and raped for sixteen hours, before killing her on May 25, 2000. abandon naked by the side of a road.
In full investigation of arms trafficking
She was investigating a weapons smuggling ring at this prison when she was abducted. At the hearing, she had implicated agents of the State, in particular an "
influential
" general of the police force. The facts "
could not be carried out without the consent and collaboration of the State, or at least with its tolerance,
" the Court said on Monday.
In March, the IACHR had already ordered the Colombian state to ensure "
immediately
" the safety of the journalist and her mother, both victims of threats. On this occasion, the Colombian state asked the journalist for forgiveness. The paramilitaries, some of whom have since been convicted, were part of far-right militias that fought left-wing guerrillas in Colombia, until their official demobilization in 2006.
“
October 18, 2021 goes down in history as the day when a struggle, which began with an individual crime, demanded the rights of thousands of women victims of sexual violence and of women journalists who give up part of their lives in their work,
”greeted on Twitter Jineth Bedoya, winner in 2020 of the UNESCO World Press Freedom Prize.
El 18 de octubre de 2021 pasa a la historia como el día en que una lucha, que empezó por un crimen individual, llevó a la reivindicación de derechos de miles de mujeres víctimas de violencia sexual y de mujeres periodistas que dejan parte de la vida en su oficio #NoEsHoraDeCallar
- Jineth Bedoya Lima (@jbedoyalima) October 18, 2021
Colombia "
fully accepts the sentence
" reacted conservative President Ivan Duque, also on Twitter.
Ms. Bedoya "
should never have been kidnapped and tortured,
" he added.
The
Press Freedom Foundation (FLIP)
welcomed this “
dignified
”
decision
for a woman who “has
tirelessly sought justice for more than 20 years
”.
For its part, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) hailed "
a historic decision
".
► To read also: Journal of Haiti and the Americas - Colombia: 5 years after the peace agreements, "
the record is slim
"
(with AFP)
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