Photo by MOVICE.
The Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project is accompanying the Committee of Solidarity with Political Prisoners (CSPP), the José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers’ Collective (CAJAR) and the Corporation for Judicial Freedom (CJL) in Buenos Aires, Argentina for a significant legal intervention seeking justice.
The CAJAR website notes: “Colombian human rights defenders (CSPP, Cajar and CJL) appeared on April 14 before Chamber I of the Federal Criminal and Correctional Chamber of Argentina, in the framework of the lawsuit filed in 2023 against former President Álvaro Uribe Vélez for cases of extrajudicial executions.”
Diario del Norte reports: “The plaintiff organizations maintain that this mechanism seeks to avoid impunity in international crimes, considering that in Colombia there are no effective criminal proceedings against the former president for these events, which according to the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) involve thousands of victims.”
El Pais also explains: “Eleven relatives of victims and human rights organizations have filed a lawsuit to ask the Argentine justice system to investigate the criminal responsibility of the former president in the murders of civilians during his term. They did so under the principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows States to investigate, prosecute and punish perpetrators of serious crimes against human rights regardless of the nationality of the victims or the perpetrator, if the countries where the crimes are committed do not investigate them.”
The article adds: “Lawyer Máximo Castex said that the hearing allowed the judges to see the faces, the families and the damage suffered by the victims.”
And Minuto 60 notes: “Castex, an Argentine lawyer who represents the interests of the families of the victims, [commented about the hearing] ‘We got a good impression in the sense that we were able to deal with all the arguments we raised to request that the resolution of the archives be revoked by the Chamber and above all because the Chamber allowed the participation of the victims.’”
El Heraldo further reports: “The judges will have to determine whether to continue with the legal process… The entities promoting the lawsuit insist that this international mechanism is key to avoiding impunity in crimes considered international crimes, when the judicial systems of origin do not offer effective responses.”
In their update on social media, the Movement of Victims of State Crimes (MOVICE) posted: “At the hearing, victims requested the Federal Chamber of Argentina to reopen investigation against Alvaro Uribe Vélez for extrajudicial executions. It is expected that in the coming days the court will adopt a decision that, hopefully, will be favorable to the call of the families and their representatives.”
We continue to follow this.
Additional reading: PBI-Canada following CAJAR, CSPP and CJL complaint in Argentina court on extra-judicial killings in Colombia (April 14, 2026).
