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Derechos | Equipo Nizkor
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| Information | | |
Derechos | Equipo Nizkor
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22Jun14
A thorough investigation of the disappearance of the DAS "wiretapping" archives is urged
Request that the archives now on SIFDAS be handed over to the Office of the Public Prosecutor
In a 17 point communique, Equipo Nizkor has asked that the authorities investigate the loss of intelligence and counter-intelligence computer files of the Administrative Department of Security [Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad (DAS)] which were stored on its Information System (SIFDAS).
The document sets out the need for a speedy and effective investigation to determine what happened to the digital files and documents which contained information on the surveillance and illegal activities carried out by agents of the security entity on political leaders, journalists, human rights defenders and opposition members of parliament.
The communiqué requests that the President of the Republic, Juan Manuel Santos and the relevant authorities ascertain the identity of the persons behind this "disappearance and/or destruction of files" on SIFDAS and that they issue corresponding disciplinary or criminal sanctions.
On this point, it refers to the complaints filed by the journalist Claudia Julieta Duque who stated that on 18th June, during an inspection carried out in the ongoing proceedings concerning her psychological torture by DAS agents, it became apparent that computer files had disappeared or been hidden.
According to one point in the document, "In 2009 the complete archive of the SIFDAS was 54 Gigabytes (Gb) in size and contained, inter alia, the database with the proof of the surveillance and other illegal operations carried out against the so-called "targets" of the DAS. At the time of the legal inspection on 18th June the SIFDAS was only 91 megabytes (Mb) in size and comprised only fingerprint cards of all the citizens registered with the National Civil Registry, the curriculum vitae of the DAS officials and the entry and exit records of persons to the DAS headquarters.
The authors of the communiqué claim that article 24 of decree nº 4057 of 2011 which ordered the closure of the DAS, required that measures be taken for the "administration, preservation and integrity of the archives of the entity" in order "to guarantee the security of the intelligence archives" for which reasons its responsibility is "direct and undeniable". For this reason an investigation as to why mechanisms for the protection of this substantial and complex information were not taken has been asked.
"The loss, concealment and/or destruction of the SIFDAS information is an impediment to any possibility of identifying further perpetrators of the serious attacks against Claudia Julieta Duque or further human rights violations committed by this organisation; as well as an impediment to any reconstruction of the information as to who ordered and carried out the persecution against opposition civil society in Colombia and as to their motivation. That is the only way of ascertaining the underlying criminal responsibility and of learning how this criminal organisation operated (to use international criminal law terminology)", the document asserts
For the Nizkor Team, there had been complaints over previous months concerning the disappearance and manipulation of elements related to the investigations of the acts carried out by the DAS . To address this, it asserts the importance of establishing whether the Office of the Inspector General of the Nation [Procuraduría General de la Nación], responsible for the supervision of this process was simply outwitted or was an accomplice in the disappearance of those elements which affect the ongoing investigations into the illegal actions carried out by this Department.
Finally, the communiqué urges that the intelligence archives of the DAS and a further 21 thousand million (according to the case record) physical documents be handed over to the Office of the Public Prosecutor " and that this entity should analyse, systematise and inform the citizens of Colombia on any discoveries it makes. It must also work to recuperate the electronic information which should still be on the original computers of the DAS and in order to do so it must take the necessary technical measures to ensure the back up and duplication of all the digital information; as well as to adopt systems of electronic and passive control of the information and the premises where the information is stored. Similar measures must be adopted with respect to the digitalization and storage of the paper records."
[Source: El Espectador, Bogotá, 22Jun14]
 | This document has been published on 08Jul14 by the Equipo Nizkor and Derechos Human Rights. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. |