PBI-Colombia accompanied CREDHOS founding member David Rabelo Crespo acquitted after 15 years

Published by Brent Patterson on February 3, 2025February 3, 2025

Video still: “The last six months in jail I was blind, but thanks to PBI’s monitoring I could see my freedom after so many years.”

PBI-Colombia has reposted:

“In a historic ruling, the Review Section of the @JEP_Colombia [Special Jurisdiction for Peace] acquitted in the first instance the Human Rights Defender David Rabelo Crespo, who had been unjustly convicted of the murder of engineer David Núñez Cala, a crime for which some paramilitaries acknowledged their responsibility.

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PBI-Colombia has previously explained: “David Ravelo Crespo is an economist, human rights defender and founding member of the [PBI-Colombia accompanied] Regional Corporation for the Defence of Human Rights (CREDHOS) in the oil port of Barrancabermeja.”

They add: “He was arrested and jailed in September 2010 for a crime that he, according to his defence lawyers and the international organisations which monitor his case, never committed.”

PBI-Colombia has also highlighted: “After exhausting all the legal possibilities in Colombia, in 2015 David’s lawyer, Reinaldo Villalba, decided to take the case to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. One year later, he presented the case before the Special Peace Jurisdiction (Justicia Especial para la Paz – JEP), where it is being studied by the Review Section of the Peace Tribunal. Ravelo [was released on parole in 2017] while awaiting the definitive decision of the Tribunal.”

Photo: “Despite the irregularities in the judicial process against David Ravelo, the conviction against him remained in place.” Photo: Bianca Bauer

Now, El Espectador reports: “ After 16 years of enduring a process in which he always pleaded not guilty, the Peace Tribunal acquitted the human rights leader, David Rabelo. The JEP clarified that it was an unfair process that was based on lies. Behind them were paramilitaries, such as alias El Panadero, and, apparently, the former commander of the AUC, Rodrigo Pérez Alzate, alias Julián Bolívar.”

The PBI-Colombia accompanied José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers’ Collective (CAJAR) says: “The JEP considered the grounds for transitional review of the case, demanded since 2018 by the José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers’ Collective (Cajar), to be well-founded. The innocence of the human rights defender was definitively proven, so he ordered his release.”

Further reading: Human rights defender served 7 years for homicide he did not commit: JEP (La Patria) and JEP acquits David Rabelo Crespo after review of his conviction (Enlace Television).

Photo by PBI-Colombia, December 2016.