World
The JEP evaluates turning to international bodies over the funding cut promoted by the ruling party
The court questioned the proposal to shift part of its budget to the Judicial Branch and warned of a possible impact on its operations. According to El Tiempo, the government of Abelardo De La Espriella backed the initiative presented by Senator Enrique Gómez.
The debate over resources for the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) added a new chapter after Senator Enrique Gómez, of Salvación Nacional, presented a proposal to transfer $100,000 million from the tribunal’s budget to the Superior Council of the Judiciary. According to El Tiempo, the initiative received the backing of President Abelardo De La Espriella.
According to that outlet, the president of the JEP, Alejandro Ramelli, warned that the measure could cause an “operational paralysis” and said he will seek to stop the cut. He also said he will bring the situation to the attention of the United Nations Security Council, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the United Nations special rapporteur on judicial independence, the guarantor countries of the 2016 Peace Agreement and the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.
Gómez defended the transfer of funds on the grounds that the ordinary justice system is going through a crisis and is burdened by a large volume of pending cases. Ramelli, by contrast, acknowledged the difficulties of the Judicial Branch but said, according to El Tiempo, that they should not be addressed by affecting a jurisdiction created to investigate, try and punish the most serious crimes of the armed conflict.
The Colombian newspaper added that the offensive against the JEP is not limited to the funding cut. Gómez is also pushing for the tribunal’s term not to be extended and for the trial phase to be transferred to the Justice and Peace courts, in a debate that will have to go through Congress.
The discussion comes amid consideration of the 2027 budget. According to El Tiempo, the JEP had requested $947,642 million for that year, but the executive branch’s bill allocated $821,803 million, 13% less. Part of the requested increase included the purchase of the building where the entity currently operates, in Chapinero, Bogotá, for $41,176 million.
Ramelli said, again according to El Tiempo, that the proposals amount to a strategy of “economic asphyxiation” and subordination of the JEP to Military Criminal Justice, and described them as the most serious attack on the tribunal’s independence and autonomy. Before the escalation of the controversy, the Minister of Justice, Iván Cancino, had said in Congress that the government did not seek to end the JEP and would guarantee it the resources to operate.
Sources
About this note. Written by El Notero with assistance from artificial intelligence, based on what was published by the cited outlet. El Notero did not conduct its own reporting on this event.
