Members of human rights organizations

95. According to the information received, on 19 May 1997, a group of masked gunmen, identifying themselves as members of the Attorney General's Office, killed Carlos Mario Calderon and Elsa Constanza Alvarado, both activists of the Centre for Research and Popular Education, in their Bogota apartment. According to the information received, in July 2001 four persons were reportedly accused of having participated in the murder and sentenced to between 4 and 60 years' imprisonment. It has been reported that detention orders have been issued against paramilitary leaders Carlos and Fidel Castano, who were allegedly charged with having planned the murders. It has been further reported that although the authorities knew about their whereabouts, they did not take the appropriate measures to arrest them. According to the information received, four judicial police officers and one key witness have been murdered in the course of the investigation. The Special Representative requested information regarding the follow-up to the measures taken by the competent authorities to investigate, prosecute and sentence those found responsible for these acts.

96. Dr. Jesus Valle Jaramillo, a renowned human rights lawyer, was shot dead in February 1998 by unidentified gunmen in his office in Medellin after denouncing links between members of the Colombian military and paramilitary organizations. He was the president of the Antioquia Permanent Committee for the Defence of Human Rights, and the fourth president of that organization to be killed. He was also a university professor and a Conservative Party local councillor.

97. Jairo Bedoya Hoyos, treasurer of the Indigenous Organization of Antioquia (OIA) and former members of the Patriotic Union (UP) political party and of Parliament in 1992-1993, disappeared on 2 March 2000 in the department of Antioquia. Those responsible are reportedly

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members of paramilitary groups allied with security forces. The victim had participated in a campaign calling for the respect of the cultural rights and for the safety of Embera indigenous people.

98. Marleny Rincon and Ana Julia Arias de Rodriguez, members of the National Association of Peasants and Indigenous Women of Colombia (ANMUCIC), and Marta Cecilia Hernandez, leader of ANMUCIC Zulia, department of North Santander, were killed, allegedly by paramilitary forces, on 21 July 2000, 19 August 2000 and 26 January 2001, respectively. Marleny Rincon, president of the association in the department of Meta, as well as Julia Arias de Rodriguez, treasurer of ANMUCIC and a member of the UP political party, have been accused of being guerrilla members. Marta Cecilia Hernandez's murder is allegedly due to her refusal to withdraw her candidature for the municipal elections.

99. Orlando Moncada, spokesman and member of the board of the Peasants Association of Valle del Rio Cimitarra, department of Santander, was killed on 1 September 2000 while standing near a road block set up by the AUC on the road between Puerto de Barrancabermeja and El Tigre.

100. Fernando Cruz Peda, a human rights lawyer and member of the Association of Democratic Jurists of Colombia, continues disappeared in Cali. On 10 December 2000, three unidentified persons in plain clothes took him away to the Attorney-General's Office on the pretext of checking his professional card. Although numerous complaints have been lodged with various national authorities, the case has reportedly not been investigated so far.

101. Pepe Zabala and Angela Andrade, members of the Multi-Ethnic People's Movement of the Narino Pacific Coast campaigning for the rights of the various ethnic minority groups in the department of Narino, were killed on 6 August 2001 in the Aguaclara district of the municipality of Tumaco. According to the information received, paramilitaries began threatening to kill members of this NGO in September 2000. The Movement had appealed to the Ministry of the Interior for protection because of the death threats. The Ministry had provided mobile telephones for members to inform the authorities if they were attacked.

102. Yolanda Ceron, a nun and director of the human rights team of the Catholic church organization Pastoral Social in Tumaco, Narizo department, was reportedly shot several times on 19 September 2001 by unidentified gunmen as she walked across a park in Tumaco. She was taken to the local hospital, where she died moments later. Ms. Ceron had worked for many years with Pastoral Social to denounce human rights violations in Narizo department and in support of the victims and their families. She had recently reported that unidentified men had followed her

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and that the offices of Pastoral Social were under permanent surveillance. Some time before, she had also been called to the Attorney-General's Office in Tumaco to ratify the denunciations she had made some months before of several cases of human rights violations.