Equipo Nizkor - Harassment and intimidation against Claudia Julieta Duque and her family.

Front Line Defenders has received worrying reports of continued acts of intimidation and harassment against Ms Claudia Julieta Duque and her family, including the targeting of her daughter.

Claudia Julieta Duque is a journalist and works as a correspondent with the Equipo Nizkor and Radio Nizkor in Colombia. She has reported on human rights violations such as forced disappearances, extrajudicial killings (known in Colombia as false positives), corruption, forced recruitment of children into state and non-state armed groups, killings and impunity, as well as the infiltration of paramilitary groups in government agencies.

Over the period of the last two months Claudia Duque and her family have been subjected to a number of serious acts of intimidation and attempted attacks against them. This occurs in the context of the beginning of the trial against three former high-ranking officers of the now dismantled Colombia secret service (Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad - DAS), accused of being the authors of the aggravated psychological torture that the journalist faced between 2001 and 2004, following her investigations into the killing of journalist and humourist Jaime Garzón.

On 4 August 2015, at 4:00 pm, Claudia Duque was conducting an interview with a magistrate of the Superior Court of Bogotá when she noticed an unknown male taking photographs of her. The man was walking around the area where the meeting was taking place and at one point approached the two women and asked if they were waiting for someone else as he was supposed to meet someone there. At that point he left, but two hours later, when the interview had concluded, Claudia Duque saw him sitting outside a restaurant just beside where they had been. She took a photograph of the man without him noticing and informed the magistrate that he was indeed still there. The magistrate sent her bodyguard to observe the man and at 7:00 pm she informed Claudia Duque that the man was still there, and appeared to be waiting to see the journalist leave. The magistrate reported this to the police who sent officers to question the man. The man gave another reason for being in the area and claimed to not be carrying his identification documents, before finally presenting his national identity card. Claudia Duque reported the incident to the Attorney General's office and provided the photos she had taken, in which it could be seen that the man appeared to be carrying a gun.

On 30 July 2015, as Claudia Duque and her daughter were carrying out errands at a commercial centre they became aware of the fact that they were being followed by a man who then joined the same checkout queue as them, despite not actually purchasing anything in the store. The man left when the journalist's daughter pointed him out.

On 29 July 2015, Claudia Duque's daughter returned home in Bogotá and discovered that unknown individuals had attempted to break into their home, forcing the lock and the hinges on the armoured security door. The journalist has security cameras at her home but the video recordings last 8 hours, after which the video starts a new recording on the same DVD. As Claudia Duque was travelling at the time and was away for a number of days, the recording of the incident had been copied over.

While the journalist was away her daughter also reported to her that she had received phone calls on the home land line in which the caller claimed to be from the gas company and trying to schedule a technical visit. Claudia Duque instructed her daughter not to receive anyone while she was away and later she called the company to check this information. The gas company informed her that they had not ordered any technical visits there.

Previously, on 22 July 2015 the parents of the human rights defender received several phone calls made from her daughter's Colombian mobile phone number, despite the fact that she was at that time on a flight, with the phone in her possession but turned off. The following day, after arriving in Bogotá, Claudia Duque's daughter was photographed by an unknown man in the vicinity of her home.

The harassment and intimidation suffered by the human rights defender and her family are linked to the work the journalist has conducted by researching and reporting on the murder of Jaime Garzón, which took place in 1999. Since 2001, Claudia Julieta Duque and her family have been subjected to psychological torture through intimidation, harassment, threats and surveillance and the human rights defender herself has been a victim of kidnapping, murder attempts and multiple death threats forcing her into exile on more than one occasion.

The intimidation and harassment have increased since 12 March 2013 when her case against officials of the now disbanded DAS, regarding psychological torture against her, was made public. The trial was postponed on two occasions and each time a new trial date was set Claudia Duque would be subjected to intensifying levels of intimidation and harassment in advance of the hearing. The trial was first postponed on 27 April 2015 and again on 24 June 2015. The first hearing finally took place on 6 July 2015 but was suspended until 22 July 2015, at which point it was suspended again while the judge makes a decision on evidence and testimonies requested for the trial. The next scheduled hearing is on 31 August 2015.

Front Line Defenders expresses its serious concern at the continuing intimidation and harassment against Claudia Julieta Duque and her family, especially her daughter, and urges the Colombian authorities to guarantee the human rights defender's right to seek justice, as well as her physical and psychological integrity and security and of her family. Front Line Defenders urges the national authorities in charge of providing protection to human rights defenders at risk, to immediately guarantee improved protection measures as requested by Claudia Julieta Duque in June.

13Aug15

Harassment and intimidation against Claudia Julieta Duque and her family

[Source: Front Line Defenders, Dublin, Ireland, 13Aug15]

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