Image taken from: Diario El País, Costa Rica

On April 19, the Administrative Court of Cundinamarca notified the decision that confirmed the first instance sentence of a judge of Bogotá (*) that condemned the Nation for the damage caused to the former senator and her family consisting of the violation of their fundamental rights to privacy, intimacy, honor and good name, as a consequence of the illegal interceptions carried out against her.

For the High Court, it was clear that “the Administrative Department of the Presidency (DAPRE) made requests to the (Administrative Department of Security) DAS related to the interceptions made to Piedad Córdoba and demanded to keep them informed about this political target of great interest to the National Government and therefore, the directors of the DAS collected, analyzed and sent information to the high government, without any legal basis“.

It should be recalled that on May 31, 2011, the Superior Court of the Judicial District of Bogotá issued a second instance conviction against the captains of the National Navy, Jorge Alberto Lagos León and Fernando Alonso Tabares Molina, for the collection of recorded material and illegal intelligence carried out against the then senator. Similarly, on August 9, 2011, an anticipated sentence was issued against Germán Villalba Chávez and Fabio Duarte Traslaviña for the crimes of aggravated conspiracy, illegal violation of communications and illegal use of transmitting and receiving equipment, and abuse of authority by arbitrary and unjust act in successive and homogeneous concurrence.

Indeed, between 2005 and 2008, the now defunct DAS, within the framework of the illegal operations Amazonas and Onix, and by order of the Presidency of the Republic, carried out intelligence work, interception and monitoring of emails, cell phone records, reporting of financial data and there was even an infiltration of the protection scheme provided to the former congresswoman. All these activities, according to what was demonstrated, had “an illegitimate purpose and with purposes prohibited by the Constitution and the law, such as harming her honor, integrity and good name and [in addition] the Administrative Department of the Presidency requested privileged information that could call into question the reputation of Piedad, without there being legal and constitutional reasons to do so”.

According to the Administrative Court of Cundinamarca, all these proven facts with the convictions and the testimonies given in the criminal proceedings, showed that the DAS officials did not act for personal reasons, but in the exercise of their public duties, with furniture and equipment of the entity and other institutions, which allowed them to carry out intelligence work without a court order.

In its judgment, the Court does not hesitate to point out these persecution practices as totalitarian by emphasizing that:

… “totalitarianism leaves out of the political and legal society, many people for reasons of political order, race, religion, minorities, in short, it undermines their human rights by persecuting and discriminating against them when it does not protect or guarantee them effectively. But it also undermines their human rights by persecuting and discriminating against them when it does not protect or guarantee them effectively. In conclusion, when the State gets rid of the law and its mediation to guarantee the equality of all persons and citizens, and turns it into instruments of exclusion or persecution, without any doubt, it is the anteroom of a totalitarian State”.

For the Court it is evident that the DAPRE and the DAS are indeed responsible for the violation of the rights of Piedad Córdoba and her family, so in addition to ordering these entities to make full reparation to the victims, it confirmed that Víctor Manuel Muñoz Rodríguez as director of the DAPRE or whoever is acting in his stead, must make an act of reparation in which he offers public apologies for the damages caused to the plaintiffs as a result of the illegal surveillance and smear campaign against the former senator, human rights defender and political leader, Piedad Esneda Córdoba Ruíz.

Undoubtedly, this ruling demonstrates once again the existence of a smear campaign against the former senator and that her work as a political and social leader has complied with the law and has been carried out within the framework of legality and through democratic channels.

Piedad Esneda Córdoba Ruíz

José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers’ Collective -Cajar-.

April 21,  2022

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*Judgment of March 2, 2022 Administrative Court of Cundinamarca. Third Section. Subsection C. M.P. José Elver Muñoz Barrera.