decision of the Valledupar High Court; on 23 March 1995, the investigation was reopened, by decision of the Attorney-General of the Nation; on 2 September 1995, the investigation was temporarily suspended at the request of the Seventeenth Public Prosecutor in Valledupar. In six years of investigation, both sets of proceedings led to the closure of the case. Optional Protocol. Their complaints under articles 6, paragraph 1; 7; 9 and 14 of the Covenant were sufficiently substantiated, and could be considered on their merits. On 14 March 1996, the case was declared admissible. The State party's information and observations on the merits and counsel's comments 7.2 Counsel states that the criminal proceedings are in contrast with the clear and forceful action taken by the Human Rights Division of the Attorney-General's Office. In Decision No. 006 of 27 April 1992, the Human Rights Division considered the following facts to have been substantiated: 6.1 In its submission under article 4, paragraph 2, of the Optional Protocol, dated 14 November 1996, the State party observes that difficulties of an internal nature arose in obtaining the information needed to reply to the Committee in the case at hand. It considers that the case should be declared inadmissible because of failure to exhaust available domestic remedies and indicates that it would be willing to reopen the case if new evidence warranting such a course came to light. – That the indigenous leaders of the Arhuaco community, Luis Napoleón Torres Crespo, Angel María Torres Arroyo and Antonio Hugues Chaparro Torres, were detained on 28 November 1990 by Colombian army units near Curumani, Department of César. 6.2 As far as the criminal proceedings are concerned, the State party submits that the first proceedings instituted against Mr. Eduardo Enrique Mattos and Mr. Alberto Uribe after the murders of the indigenous leaders were unsuccessful and it was not possible to identify those responsible. On 18 January 1995, the investigation was assigned to the Seventeenth Public Prosecutor's Office attached to the Valledupar District Court and under article 326 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, it suspended the proceedings, as no new evidence had come to light since 30 June 1992. On 23 March 1995, the Seventeenth Public Prosecutor reopened the proceedings for the purpose of considering the possibility of securing the cooperation of an alleged witness to the events. On 9 May 1995, the witness was interrogated by a psychologist on the staff of the Technical Investigation Unit in Bucaramanga. On 1 November 1995, the psychologist issued a report on the witness's credibility. In view of the contradictions between the witness's statements to the prosecutor and the psychologist, the Public Prosecutor decided that the witness lacked credibility. On 2 September 1996, he ordered the case temporarily suspended, also pursuant to article 326 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. – That also on 28 November, at about 10 p.m., the brothers José Vicente and Amado Villafañe Chaparro, members of the indigenous community, and Manuel de la Rosa Pertuz were detained in Valledupar, Department of César, by military units headed by Lieutenant Pedro Antonio Fernández Ocampo in an operation ordered by Military Court No. 15, and later taken to the No. 2 Artillery Battalion “La Popa” barracks, where they were tortured (sheets 12 and 13). That, in the view of the Human Rights Division, “there is no doubt that Lieutenant-Colonel Duque Izquierdo played an active role in the events under investigation” (sheet 13). – That José Vicente Villafañe Chaparro was transported, against his will and after being tortured, in a helicopter to a place in the mountains by military personnel (sheets 14 and 17), where he was tortured by units of No. 2 Artillery Battalion “La Popa”, as part of an investigation conducted by military personnel attached to Military Court No. 15 to determine the whereabouts of Mr. José Eduardo Mattos, who had been abducted by an insurgent group. 6.3 In connection with the disciplinary proceedings and the dismissals of LieutenantColonel Luis Fernando Duque Izquierdo and Lieutenant Fernández Ocampo, they went into retirement at their own request, on the basis of decisions of December 1991 and September 1992, as upheld by a decision of 7 November 1996. – That, while in detention in the military barracks and in the presence of military personnel, the Villafañe Chaparro brothers were interrogated and tortured by Eduardo Enrique Mattos, a civilian and brother of the abducted person. Eduardo Enrique Mattos threatened the Villafañe brothers that he would kill indigenous people if they did not reveal his brother's whereabouts and said, “to prove it, they were already holding three of them” (sheet 31). 7.1 In his comments on the criminal proceedings, counsel states that the proceedings have taken place in two spheres: ordinary jurisdiction and military jurisdiction. The ordinary criminal proceedings have been conducted in a tortuous manner: on 30 June 1992, the investigation was halted by – That the military operations which led to the detention of indigenous leaders Luis Napoleón Torres Crespo, Angel María Torres Arroyo and Antonio Hugues Chaparro Torres, on the one hand, 139