Antécédents de l'affaire: Abelardo Sánchez Serrano
Abelardo Sánchez Serrano a été menacé de mort à plusieurs occasions. Les 25 et 26 novembre 2013, plusieurs hommes ont été vus en train de surveiller le bâtiment où se trouve le siège de CREDHOS, où le défenseur travaille. Ils seraient des paramilitaires chargés de surveiller les bureaux de CREDHOS. En 2013, CREDHOS a reçu des informations provenant de sources fiables à propos d'un plan des paramilitaires pour assassiner Abelardo Sánchez Serrano.
Abelardo Sánchez Serrano est un défenseur des droits humains colombien et membre du conseil de la Corporation régionale pour les droits humains (CREDHOS). Son travail se concentre sur la formation et l'éducation aux droits humains et au droit humanitaire international à Barrancabermeja en Colombie. Il participe également à la collecte de plaintes officielles relatives à des violations des droits humains et des crimes contre l'humanité perpétrés par des paramilitaires présumés, en particulier les exécutions extrajudiciaires.
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- 27 Novembre 2013 : Harassment and surveillance of CREDHOS staff and break-in at CREDHOS headquarters
- 7 Août 2012 : Renewed threats against human rights defender Mr Abelardo Sánchez Serrano and colleagues in CREDHOS
- 1 Juin 2012 : Renewed death threats against Mr Abelardo Sánchez Serrano and members of CREDHOS
- 2 Mai 2012 : Renewed threats against human rights defender Mr Abelardo Sánchez Serrano
- 19 Janvier 2012 : Death threats at gunpoint against human rights defender Mr Abelardo Sánchez Serrano
On 25 and 26 November 2013, several men were seen watching the CREDHOS headquarters building between the hours of 9 am and 3 pm. They are believed to be paramilitary operatives tasked with monitoring the CREDHOS offices. Furthermore, in the early hours of 22 November 2013, unknown individuals stole classified materials from the Barrancabermeja headquarters of La Corporación Regional para la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos – CREDHOS (Regional Corporation for the Defense of Human Rights).
On 22 November 2013, at approximately 00:30 am, an unknown individual began knocking at the door and ringing the telephone in the office for about twenty-five minutes. At 00:52 am, the President of CREDHOS, Mr Iván Madero Vergel attempted to call Mr Dilson Javier Nieto, a security guard assigned by the National Protection Unit to human rights defender and fellow CREDHOS member Mr Abelardo Sánchez Serrano. Iván Madero Vergel turned off all the lights on the second floor offices in order to conceal himself and he noted from the upstairs communications room that someone was inside the building.
At 00:53 am, Iván Madero Vergel again called Dilson Javier Nieto. At that point, he heard several men shouting from an office and a bathroom inside the building. He asked Dilson Javier Nieto to get to the offices as quickly as he could as he feared for his security. He then ran to hide in a bathroom in the reception area, where he continued to hear men shouting and making noise. From the bathroom, Iván Madero Vergel called another of Abelardo Sánchez Serrano's security guards, Mr Vladimir Amaya Garcés. At 00:58 am, the security personnel arrived and were soon joined by the police. One suspect was arrested, however a number of laptop computers with valuable information had been stolen and roof tiles had been damaged. It is believed that the individuals may have been aware that Ivan Madero Vergel was inside the office. The human rights defender recently denounced that he was under surveillance. CREDHOS has received information from trusted sources about paramilitary plans to assassinate Abelardo Sánchez Serrano and Iván Madero Vergel.
Between 1991 and 1992, seven active members of CREDHOS were killed and others were forced into exile. In 2008, members of CREDHOS and other social organisations in the region received nine death threats signed by alleged paramilitary groups. Between 2009 and 2011, twelve death threats were sent to activists in the region. On 7 December 2012, spokesperson for CREDHOS, Mr David Rabelo Crespo, was sentenced to 18 years and 3 months' imprisonment, on charges of conspiracy to commit a crime and aggravated murder brought about as a result of accusations made against him by a former member of a paramilitary group. Front Line Defenders has followed the case of David Rabelo Crespo since his detention in September 2010.
Members of Corporación Regional para la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos - CREDHOS (Regional Corporation for the Defence of Human Rights) have received further death threats.
CREDHOS provides training and education on human rights issues and International Humanitarian Law, and collects complaints regarding human rights violations and crimes against humanity committed by paramilitary groups and members of the security forces, particularly those relating to extrajudicial killings in the region.
On 1 February 2012, at approximately 8:00 am, Mr Wilfran Cadena, a board member of CREDHOS, arrived at the organisation's office in Barrancabermeja and found threatening leaflets that had been posted through the main door. The leaflets, which had been signed by the Comandos Urbanos (Urban Commands), contained statements accusing all members of CREDHOS of being guerillas and stated that as a result they would to be killed. The leaflets also said that all the activities of the organisation were being monitored.
The threats referred to the imprisonment of CREDHOS member David Rabelo Crespo, calling him a guerilla and accusing his cousin, María Rabelo Grimaldo, of teaching his ideas in the neighbourhoods of Barrancabermeja and warning her to cease her activities or else she and her family would be killed.
At approximately 8:15 pm that evening, María Rabelo Grimaldo's daughter, Anny Lizeth Vera Rabelo, was intercepted by two men on motorbikes as she was leaving work. They gave her a leaflet and told her to tell her mother to stop her “juegito” (little game).
These incidents come in the context of an ongoing campaign of intimidation, threats and harassment of members of CREDHOS, which Front Line Defenders believes is directly related to their human rights activities. On the 13 January 2012, Abelardo Sánchez Serrano, a member of the board of directors of CREDHOS, was threatened with death at gunpoint as he was travelling to CREDHOS offices.
The Colombian human rights organisation Corporación Regional para la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos has received renewed death threats against its members.
On 29 March 2012, at approximately 8.15 am, Mr Wilfran Cadena Grandado, Vice President of CREDHOS, entered their offices and found two Manila envelopes, each of which contained a nine millimetre calibre bullet and a pamphlet with a death threat from the paramilitary group known as Los Botalones, directed at himself and his CREDHOS colleagues María Ravelo Grimaldo, Abelardo Sánchez Serrano and María Calderon Credhos Rangel. The pamphlet stated that the paramilitary group were informing the community of Barrancabermeja that they had declared the aforementioned human rights defenders to be military targets.
This new threat against CREDHOS members forms part of an ongoing campaign of threats, intimidation and harassment against CREDHOS and other human rights organisations operating in the region. On 2 May 2012, Front Line Defenders issued an urgent appeal when two unidentified persons were witnessed taking photographs of the home of Vladimir Amaya Garcés, a security guard assigned to Abelardo Sánchez Serrano for his protection. Front Line Defenders also issued an urgent appeal in January 2012 following a threat by armed individuals against Abelardo Sánchez Serrano during which he was warned that he had 72 hours to leave the city. Abelardo Sánchez Serrano was a participant at the Front Line Defenders Sixth Dublin Platform in September 2011.
Mr David Rabelo Crespo, spokesperson for CREDHOS, has been imprisoned since September 2010 on charges of aggravated murder brought about as a result of accusations made against him by a former member of a paramilitary group. The final verdict in his case is expected in the next few weeks.
Between 1991 and 1992 six active members of CREDHOS were killed and others were forced into exile. Members of CREDHOS and other social organisations in the region received nine death threats in 2008 signed by alleged paramilitary groups and 12 death threats between 2009-2011.
Front Line Defenders believes that the death threat against Wilfran Cadena Granado, María Ravelo Grimaldo, Abelardo Sánchez Serrano and María Calderon Credhos Rangel is directly related to their legitimate and peaceful human rights work, and in particular their membership of CREDHOS.
On 30 April 2012 two unidentified persons were witnessed taking photographs of the home of Mr Vladimir Amaya Garcés, a security guard assigned to HRD Mr Abelardo Sánchez Serrano.
On 30 April 2012, at 8:30am, Vladimir Amaya Garcés' young daughter telephoned her aunt to report that two unidentified persons were taking photographs of the front of their building as well as the inside part through a window-shutter which they had opened. The house, in Barrancabermeja in the Department of Santander, had been closed up at the time. Neighbours of the family reported that this was the third time these individuals had been observed looking around the area, and whilst claiming to be looking to purchase a home they had also been asking questions as to who Vladimir Amaya Garcés was working for as a security guard.
Furthermore, neighbours of human rights defender Abelardo Sánchez Serrano reported that on 29 April 2012, a taxi carrying 3 persons had been in the vicinity of his home and the persons inquired about the location of “la casa donde vive Sánchez el que trabaja en los Derechos Humanos” (the house where Sánchez, the one working in human rights, lives). When they realised that there was a police patrol in the area due to community action board elections (juntas de acción comunal), they left. Front Line Defenders is concerned for the security of Vladimir Amaya Garcés and his family given the reported security incidents and his connection to Abelardo Sánchez Serrano.
Front Line Defenders issued an urgent appeal in January 2012 following a threat by armed individuals against Abelardo Sánchez Serrano during which he was warned that he had 72 hours to leave the city. Since September 2010, spokesperson of CREDHOS, Mr David Rabelo Crespo, has been imprisoned and is facing prosecution on charges of conspiracy to commit a crime and aggravated murder brought about as a result of accusations made against him by a former member of a paramilitary group. During his detention he has been reportedly subjected to direct threats and harassment. Front Line Defenders have followed the case of David Rabelo Crespo since his detention in September 2010.
Front Line Defenders views this recent threat against Abelardo Sánchez Serrano as forming part of an ongoing campaign of threats, intimidation and harassment of CREDHOS and other human rights organisations operating in the region. Between 1991 and 1992 six active members of CREDHOS were killed and others were forced into exile. Members of CREDHOS and other social organisations in the region received nine death threats in 2008 signed by alleged paramilitary groups and 12 death threats between 2009-2011.
On 13 January 2012, at approximately 9:20 am, Abelardo Sánchez Serrano was approached by two men on a blue high-speed motorbike with black stripes, as he was on his way to the offices of CREDHOS, in Barrancabermeja. When he was on street 22 in the neighbourhood of Torcoroma he was intercepted by the two men who pointed a gun at his chest saying “dejen de estar denigrando de la fuerza pública que ya tenemos a un hijueputa guerrillero de Credhos encarcelado y que si es necesario si hay quedarle al resto, pues lo haremos para acallarlos; y antes de irse, dijeron: que tenía setenta y dos horas para salir de la ciudad” (stop denigrating the public forces, we already have a son of a bitch guerrilla from Credhos in jail and if it’s necessary to take care of the rest, well we’ll do so to shut them up). The perpetrators warned Abeldardo Sánchez Serrano that he had 72 hours to leave the city.
The threat against Abelardo Sánchez Serrano came less than 24 hours after he had acted as spokesperson at a press conference where CREDHOS and other social organisations in the Magdalena Medio region officially announced that they are to hold a commemoration of the 1989 La Rochela massacre on 18 January 2012. The massacre took place in the municipality of Simacota, when 12 out of 15 officials investigating crimes committed in the Magdalena Medio region by paramilitaries and members of the Armed Forces were killed. In January 2012, the Colombian Constitutional Court issued urgent protection measures for the surviving victims of the massacre pointing out that the State had not, to date, duly provided for their protection.
Front Line Defenders views this recent threat against Abelardo Sánchez Serrano as forming part of an ongoing campaign of threats, intimidation and harassment of CREDHOS and other human rights organisations operating in the region. Between 1991 and 1992 six active members of CREDHOS were killed and others were forced into exile. Members of CREDHOS and other social organisations in the region received nine death threats in 2008 signed by alleged paramilitary groups and 12 death threats between 2009-2011.
