Comply with Social Protest

Bogotá, September 30, 2020. On the compliance of the judgment of the Civil Division of the Supreme Court of Justice, protecting the right to peaceful protest, the organizations that represent the claimants, state: 

1. All institutions must comply immediately and in good faith with all orders of the Court's judgment. To achieve the protection of the violated rights, we, the claimants, sent respectful requests for compliance to all institutions involved.
   
   
2. We welcome the willingness to comply expressed by the Attorney General’s Office of the Nation, the Office of the Ombudsman, and the Mayor's Office of Bogotá. We emphasize that the Office of the Ombudsman appointed a follow-up commission, made up of high-level officials, and that the Attorney General appointed Carlos Medina Ramírez, Delegate for the Defense of Human Rights, as coordinator of the actions for the same purpose. We are prepared to contribute to all institutions for the purpose of materializing these court orders.
   
   
3. We invite the President of the Republic and the Minister of Defense, to fully comply with the orders of the Supreme Court, and to respect article 37 of the Constitution at all times, which guarantees the right to "assemble and demonstrate publicly and peacefully" and other fundamental rights related to citizen expression.
   
   
4. Taking into account the diversity of orders and institutions involved, we will ask the Civil Division of the Tribunal of Bogotá to establish a monitoring and compliance mechanism that guarantees the best possible information and the maximum participation of the claimants, as well as of civil society in general. This mechanism shall provide for the start of the preliminary issue of contempt proceeding, in the event of non-compliance by any of the institutions or officials responsible.
   
   
5. We express our dissatisfaction with the statements made by the Minister of Defense, in which he reiterates a generic and timeless apology for individual actions by members of the National Police. The order to offer apologies issued by the Supreme Court of Justice, has the redress of victims of systematic actions of police violence in the context of the protests developed in the National Strike of last November as its fundamental objective. The victims have expressed their disagreement with the minister's statements, as it was the case with Denis Cruz, Dilan Cruz's sister. We therefore request the Tribunal to ask the Minister for explanations of the reasons why he considers that his statement complies with the order of the Supreme Court of Justice.

Signers:
Campaign to Defend Freedom, Solidarity Committee for Political Prisoners, “José Alvear Restrepo” Lawyers Collective, dhColombia, Colombian Commission of Jurists, Humanidad Vigente, Dejusticia, Foundation for Press Freedom (FLIP).