November 04th, 2025 — The undersigned international and Argentinean NGOs call for the case filed by Colombian victims and human rights organizations not to be dismissed. The complainants sought to clarify former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe Vélez’s responsibility for extrajudicial executions committed during his presidency.
We support the appeal filed by the complainants against the decision of Argentina’s Federal Court No. 2, Judge Sebastián Ramos, who—after nearly two years of preliminary review—ordered the case filed in November 2023 to be closed.
The complaint was filed by 11 victims of extrajudicial executions and three human rights organizations: the Comité de Solidaridad con los Presos Políticos (CSPP), the Colectivo de Abogados y Abogadas José Alvear Restrepo (CAJAR), and the Corporación Jurídica Libertad (CJL). The complainants are represented by Argentine lawyer Máximo Castex and advised by international lawyer Bénédict De Moerloose, both experts in this type of proceedings.
This is not the first time that, in Universal Jurisdiction cases, attempts have been made to shut down a case before a formal investigation even begins. The same occurred in investigations into crimes (i) of the Franco regime in Spain, (ii) against the Rohingya people in Myanmar, and (iii) against the Uyghur population in China. In each of these landmark matters, the closure was overturned and judicial proceedings continued.
We are concerned about the lack of Colombian investigative mechanisms specifically suited to prosecuting former presidents: the Commission for Investigation and Accusation of the Colombian Congress, competent to prosecute former presidents, is a political, not judicial, body which has never brought a head of state to trial. The absence of concrete judicial action poses a serious risk of impunity for the killing of civilians.
As a duty of the international community, the rights of victims of crimes against humanity must be guaranteed. Without a proceeding that meets international standards, the rights to justice and truth cannot be assured.
For these reasons, we urge the Argentine Court of Appeals to fulfill its mandate under universal jurisdiction so that crimes against humanity are effectively investigated, prosecuted, and punished.
Signed by
OMCT - SOS-Torture Network
Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales (CELS)
European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR)
Please find the Spanish translation here // Encuentre la traducción al español aquí.
