We demand protection for Yuri Neira

24.02.09

By Maureen Maya

On January 16, 2009, the DAS (Colombian political police) raided the Salmon Cultural Center. On Saturday, two hitmen tried to kill Yury Neira. Yury Neira still has not seen justice done for the murder of his son Nicolas by the police. Instead, state security forces have relentlessly threatened Yury. Those who should be investigating and sanctioning the perpetrators of Nicolas’ murder, in complete impunity for more than three years, have refused to administer justice.

The criminal state’s complicity is clear

On the afternoon of January 16th, a heavily armed group of agents from the DAS, along with agents from the CTI police force and anti-explosives cars, carried out an illegal raid on the Salmon Cultural Center. The Salmon Cultural Center, also known as Piso Dos, is widely recognized as a meeting place for alternative young people. The Center hosts a variety of cultural activities, including film screenings, dance workshops, painting, private concerts, academic activities, and political study and analysis meetings.

Yury Neira, who has coordinated the Salmon Cultural Center’s activities for three and a half years, has been targeted for repression by state security forces. On May 1st, 2005, his young son Nicolas Neira, only 15 years old, was beaten to death by the Colombian riot police. The riot police, called the ESMAD, had come out to repress the yearly workers’ demonstration. Nicolas died, suffering severe brain damage, two days later in the hospital. The medical report indicates that his skull had several fractures, one of them 26 centimeters long. These wounds revealed an unjustifiable brutality, especially considering that Nicolas was an unarmed youth whose asthma prevented him from running and saving himself from the savage police attack.

Since that day, Nicolas’ father undertook a brave battle to win justice in the name of his son and punishment for the killers. The costs of his bold decision have been extremely high. Not only did Yury lose his job, but he has been constantly persecuted. He has suffered two assassination attempts, four arbitrary arrests, constant surveillance, threats, false accusations, police harassment, and constant raids or attempted raids by state security forces. And in threatening letters sent by the paramilitary group “Aguilas Negras” (Black Eagles), Yury and other human rights defenders have been sentenced to death. Yury has been robbed, and even some of his son’s belongings were stolen, such as a bicycle that was stolen by the police and had its tires punctured. Although the bike was found in a police station and identified, it later mysteriously disappeared, in an incident that still has not been explained. In addition, armed men showed up at Yury’s mother’s house a couple of months ago, asking about Yury’s whereabouts.

Because he has demanded justice, Yury’s life has truly become a nightmare. He has been forced to constantly change the place where he sleeps; he has to regularly change cell phones; he can’t see friends anymore; is forced to seek a new place to sleep each night; he has to be suspicious of anyone walking next to him; and sometimes he’s even forced to disappear for short periods of crime as if he were a criminal.

The Procuraduria, Colombia’s internal affairs agency, has recognized that Nicolas was killed by the police, rather than trampled by other demonstrators as the police initially claimed. Nevertheless, the investigation has not advanced at all, and those responsible still have not been identified. A foreign reporter who covered the May Day march captured the exact moment when Nicolas was murdered. Although this evidence helped prove police responsibility for the crime, it only led to the journalist being threatened and forced to leave the country.

The justice system has refused to establish the truth about Nicolas’ murder. Rather, it has allowed the authorities to viciously harass the victim’s father. This harassment has not only kept Yuri from carrying out his daily activities, but has also kept him in a state of permanent tension and psychological stress.

The raid, which “coincidentally” took place when Yury was applying for information at the DAS, was carried out with a huge number of irregularities, all of which have been reported to the civilian authorities. When the police entered the cultural center, they broke locks and damaged the facilities, blocked lawyers and even the building’s owners from entering, and threatened, intimidated, and took pictures of civilians. Fortunately, a lawyer from CCAJAR (the Jose Alvear Restrepo Lawyer’s Collective), was able to get a video camera and filmed most of the raid. When the raid had already finished, after more than six hours, the police tried to enter the building again. Fortunately, at the same time lawyers, members of various social organizations, social and political leaders had gathered in front of the Israel Embassy to condemn the aggression against the Palestinian people and show their solidarity with the victims of this genocide. When they found out what was happening, they quickly came to the cultural center to surround Yury and managed to stop the police’s attempted second raid.

The police carried out their operation claiming that a guerrilla cell was operating out of the house, and that the owners were suspected of terrorism. Dogs that had been tortured in anti-drug and anti-explosives training were brought in, supposedly because there were weapons, drugs, and explosives in the house. As was to be expected, and as some of the police officers must have known, there was nothing in the house. Thanks to the immediate response of friends and NGOs, the police weren’t able to plant fake evidence to justify their brutal incursion. The planting of evidence in police raids has been going on for decades, without any sanction for their violations of basic human, civil, and constitutional rights.

Nevertheless, the persecution didn’t stop there. The next day, two armed men tried to enter the Salmon Cultural Center, asking for Yury. When Yury realized that the men were confused about the gender of the person that they planned to kill, he answered that “she” wasn’t there. One of the men ordered the other in an authoritarian tone of voice, “He’s Yury, do it, do it, it’s him”, but the other man hesitated in confusion. The young people who were with Yury immediately started to shout and call for help by phone. By the time the authorities arrived, the two men had already fled.

Yury’s difficult battle has become a brave example for human rights defenders and social organizations. He has not only managed to channel his pain into the development of beautiful and creative projects with a diverse group of young people, but he has also become a bridge between diverse sectors of society in Bogota.

This case must be brought to the international justice system, and trustworthy state security forces must offer Yury the necessary security measures. Although Nicolas’ murder was informally denounced to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, and so the Court is aware of the case, the case should be officially filed with the Court as soon as possible. Given the ineffectiveness of the Colombian justice system and its apparent lack of political will to carry the case forward and apply sanctions, international bodies should act on the case before it is too late.

The Colombian state is responsible for the life of Yury Neira, and for any persecution or libelous false accusations inflicted on him.

We demand protection for Yury Neira.
We demand justice for Nicolas and full reparations for his family!

Read more Denuncias

International Peace Observatory  |  Observatorio Internacional de la Paz  |  Bogotá, Colombia  |  NIT: 900.013.419-3

www.peaceobservatory.org  |  info@peaceobservatory.org  |  Telefax: (+57) 1 232 10 06   |  Móvil: (+57) 314 296 47 69