Colombia's corrupt attorney general

From the outset, Luis Camilo Osorio has made decisions to protect establishment figures from prosecution. In numerous cases involving corruption of establishment figures, he has decided not to proceed to trial.

A year after Osorio became attorney general, Human Rights Watch (HRW) conducted a two-week mission in Colombia to investigate whether progress on human rights cases had continued under his mandate. They found that "upon taking office, Attorney General Osorio made clear that he was deeply suspicious of human rights prosecutions, particularly when they involved allegations against members of the military. He publicly promised to correct what he described as excessive attention to these allegations by prosecutors.

The attorney general's public criticism of the country's Human Rights Unit echoed charges commonly made by military officers and their supporters that justice officials unfairly single out the military for prosecution, thereby, serving the interests of guerrillas by pursuing human rights cases.

The message transmitted through his office was, in the words of one prosecutor quoted by HRW: "reduce attention given to cases involving paramilitary activity." Over a dozen active and former justice officials told HRW that Attorney General Osorio, through his actions and statements, had made it clear that efforts to hold high-level army officers accountable for human rights abuses are not welcome.

"Within 72 hours of his arrival, Osorio had demanded the resignations of two high-ranking, veteran officials who had handled some of the institution's most important and complex human rights cases," found HRW. "A third official felt compelled to resign in response to the attorney general's actions."

The purge began after Osorio asked the director of the Human Rights Unit, Pedro Díaz, and Deputy Attorney General Pablo Elías González, to update him on one of the most important and controversial human rights cases investigated by the Unit. The case involved alleged collaboration between the army's General Rito Alejo Del Río and right-wing paramilitaries between 1995 and 1997. During this time, the paramilitaries launched a campaign to force the FARC out of the Urabá region. Paramilitaries attacked villages, executed local civic leaders, and provoked mass displacement and severe hardship for thousands of residents in an attempt to rob the left-wing guerrillas of supplies and support and to terrorise people into fleeing.

The evidence against General Del Río was compelling enough to prompt then-President Andrés Pastrana to cashier him in 1998. The US Government also cancelled his visa to the United States, reportedly on the grounds that there was credible evidence that implicated him in "international terrorism" and drug trafficking.

Colombia's Human Rights Unit opened an investigation in 1998. In July 2001, the prosecutor ordered the general's arrest. Once Del Río was detained, the next stage of the investigation began but that was also the day Osorio was sworn in as the new attorney general.

"The arrest of an army general for human rights abuses represented a major advance for the Human Rights Unit. Yet, Osorio treated it very differently," reported Human Rights Watch. "During his first week in office, he publicly criticised the prosecutor's ruling and forced Díaz's resignation. González, meanwhile, felt compelled by the Attorney General's actions to offer his own resignation." The general was released after 14 days.

A 2002 report by Amnesty International also questioned "the ability or willingness of the Attorney General Office to advance investigations into human rights violations". Amnesty's concerns were shared by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and by a range of Colombian human rights groups.

The relationship between government and right-wing paramilitary groups was demonstrated by the attorney general's decision to provide safe conduct to the leaders of the right-wing Death-Squads Adolfo Paz and Eduardo Cifuentes. Both had been issued with arrest warrants but these were suspended to facilitate president Álvaro Uribe's negotiations with the paramilitary forces.

The negotiation with right-wing paramilitaries is Uribe's only peace strategy. He has refused to negotiate with left-wing guerrilla organisations, while presenting legislation that would allow right wing paramilitary leaders who have committed atrocities to agree to very light conditions in return for a virtual immunity. Uribe's policy has been denounced by human rights organisations in Colombia and abroad.

Only last month, possible links between Osorio and paramilitaries came to light after the Miami Herald reported details about support by Osorio's office for death squad attacks. The next day, the newspaper reported a Medellín taxi driver's allegations that he witnessed two investigators from Osorio's office help paramilitaries murder and mutilate suspected guerrillas. On 23 April, the newspaper published an editorial calling for Osorio's resignation.

Colombian judicial system employees have joined a chorus calling for the attorney general's resignation. Luis Fernando Otálvaro, president of the Judicial Branch Employees Association (Asonal), said Osorio should step down "so the image of justice in the country doesn't continue getting tarnished".