The Supreme Court Upholds Torture Convictions in the Case of Claudia Julieta Duque

This article was originally published in Spanish by our partner Fundación para la Libertad de Prensa (FLIP). Read the original here.

The Colombian Supreme Court has rejected appeals filed by Emiro Rojas Granados, the former Deputy Director of the redundant Colombian secret police – the Administrative Department of Security (DAS) – and Néstor Javier Pachón Bermúdez, a former detective with the same agency.

The DAS subjected Colombian journalist, Claudia Julieta Duque to over two decades of relentless persecution. The recent Supreme Court ruling upholds the convictions issued by lower courts against Rojas Granados and Pachón Bermúdez for the crimes of aggravated torture and aggravated conspiracy to commit a crime against Duque.

According to the judgment, between July 2001 and December 2004, a criminal organisation operated within the DAS, acting “outside ordinary administrative guidelines” and through “joint efforts by all units of the General Directorate of Intelligence.”

The Court recognised that this organisation systematically harassed, surveilled, threatened, and psychologically tortured the journalist in retaliation for her investigations into the murder of Jaime Garzón and her reporting on the DAS’s alleged role in obstructing that case.

The judges found that the attacks against Duque – including persecution, death threats, and harassment of her young daughter – amounted to continuous acts of torture that forced the journalist into exile on two occasions. The Court also determined that Rojas Granados, as Deputy Director General of the DAS, was aware of and in control of these illegal operations, misused State resources to serve a criminal network, and covered up the actions of detective Pachón Bermúdez, who was responsible for the surveillance.

Consequently, the Court upheld the sentences of 174 months in prison (14 and a half years) for Rojas Granados and a fine of 4,200 current legal monthly minimum salaries (approx. £1.09 million); and of 150 months (12 and a half years) and 1,500 current legal monthly minimum salaries (approx. £390,000) for Pachón Bermúdez. In Colombia, “current legal monthly minimum wage” (SMMLV) is a standard unit for calculating fines, compensation, and penalties.

The ruling also orders the President of Colombia to issue a public apology to the journalist and to ensure she receives compensation for moral damages.

This decision reaffirms the existence of an institutionalised policy of persecution within the former DAS that sought to silence journalists and human rights defenders through illegal intelligence practices.

Judicial proceedings remain pending against Giancarlo Auqué and José Miguel Narváez, two other former DAS officials implicated in the same events. Media Defence and FLIP urge the authorities to proceed swiftly and diligently with these cases.