2.14 On 28 November 1994, the Human Rights Division opened disciplinary proceedings file No. 008-153713 and began preliminary investigations. On 26 April 1996, it informed one of the NGOs that the proceedings were still at the preliminary inquiry stage. that disciplinary investigation proceedings should be instituted against Judge No. 47 of the Military Criminal Investigation Department. 2.11 The director of the Special Investigations Unit ordered a new investigation, including an investigation into the conduct of Judge No. 47 of the Military Criminal Investigation Department. The investigating officials submitted several reports to the director; one of them, relating to Luis Honorio Quintero Ropero, Ramón Emilio Ropero Quintero, Nahún Elías Sánchez Vegas and Ramón Emilio Sánchez, stated that “it is fully demonstrated that material responsibility lies with anti-guerrilla section C of battalion 17 (‘Motilones’) of the Second Mobile Brigade under the command of Captain Serna Arbelaez Mauricio”. 2.15 On 13 January 1995, the families of the victims lodged a claim against Colombia in the administrative court for the deaths of Luis Honorio Quintero Ropero, Ramón Emilio Quintero Ropero, Ramón Emilio Sánchez, Luis Ernesto Ascanio Ascanio, Nahún Elías Sánchez Vega and Ramón Villegas Téllez; the claims were declared admissible between 31 January and 24 February 1995. The complaint 2.12 On 29 June 1994, in their final report, the officials confirmed that it was fully proved that the peasants had been detained by members of antiguerrilla battalion No. 17 (“Motilones”) of the Second Mobile Brigade, on the occasion of a military operation carried out in compliance with operation order No. 10 issued by the commander of that military unit; that the peasants were last seen alive when in the hands of the soldiers and appeared to have died later in the course of two alleged clashes with units of the military. They also established that Luis Ernesto Ascanio Ascanio, a minor, was last seen alive heading home some 15 minutes’ walk from home and that the boy was found dead after another alleged clash with the military. The officials identified the commanders, officers, non-commissioned officers and privates who formed part of the patrols that captured the peasants and occupied the dwelling of the Ascanio family. The report concluded that, “on the basis of the evidence advanced, the allegation of combats in which the victims could have taken part is discredited, since they were already being held by troops of the National Army, in a manner which was, moreover, irregular; some of them bear marks on the skin that demonstrate even more clearly the defenceless condition they were in …”. The report recommended that the case should be referred to the Armed Forces Division in the Procurator’s Office. 3.1 The authors submit that the facts outlined above amount to violations by Colombia of article 6, paragraph 1, of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in that the seven victims were arbitrarily deprived of life. 3.2 They also allege a violation of article 7 of the Covenant on account of the torture suffered by the victims after having been arbitrarily detained and before being murdered. 3.3 The authors maintain that the detention of the victims by the armed forces without any type of arrest warrant constitutes a violation of article 9 of the Covenant. 3.4 The authors also allege a violation of article 17 of the Covenant, inasmuch as the victims’ right to privacy and freedom from interference in family life were violated when they were arrested in their homes. 3.5 The authors allege a violation of article 2, paragraph 3, of the Covenant since the State party has not provided an effective remedy for cases where it fails in its obligation to safeguard the rights protected by the Covenant. 3.6 The authors submit that, in view of the nature of the rights infringed and the gravity of the incidents, only remedies of a judicial nature can be considered effective; that is not the case with disciplinary remedies, according to the Committee’s case law.4 The authors also consider that the military courts cannot be considered as offering an effective remedy within the meaning of article 2, paragraph 3, since in military justice the persons implicated are both judge and party. It is indeed an incongruous situation, since the judge of first instance in criminal 2.13 On 25 October 1994, the Armed Forces Division in the Attorney-General’s Office referred the file to the Human Rights Division of the same office on jurisdictional grounds. The transmission document indicates that “the following has been established … the state of complete defencelessness of the victims …, the close range at which the bullets that killed them were fired and the fact that they had been detained before they died; the foregoing, together with other evidence, disproves the existence of an alleged combat that allegedly was the central circumstance causing the deaths recorded”. 4 See Views adopted in cases Nos. 563/1993, Nydia Bautista de Arellana v. Colombia, on 27 October 1995, para. 8.2, and 612/1995, Arhuacos v. Colombia, 29 July 1997, para. 8.2. 62