FOR RELEASE: Dip Note on Access to Colombian Extraditees

UNCLAS STATE 127191 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL KJUS SNAR CO SUBJECT: FOR RELEASE: Dip Note on Access to Colombian Extraditees ¶1. (SBU) Washington requests Embassy Bogota deliver the below diplomatic note, at para 3, to an appropriate level of the Foreign Ministry. Please encourage the MFA to share the diplomatic note with relevant parts of the GOC and other governmental branches, sub-divisions and levels, as well as individual officials, at GOC discretion. Embassy is also authorized to share unofficially some or all of the note with the same. ¶2. (U) The below diplomatic note outlines those procedures which shall be followed by Colombian officials -- consular, criminal justice, and other -- who want access to Colombian citizens incarcerated in the United States. The note responds to GOC requests for clarification and establishes consistent procedures for all Colombian officials, depending on the purpose of their access request. ¶3. (U) BEGIN TEXT: [Complimentary opening] and makes reference to the efforts of the last several months by various Colombian government officials and individuals to seek access to Colombian citizens incarcerated in the United States, either awaiting or following prosecution, who are also accused of or have knowledge of serious crimes being investigated and prosecuted in Colombia. These visits have been made, or attempted, by Colombian officials from the judiciary, the executive, and the legislature. The United States takes this opportunity to reiterate and clarify the procedures that such officials should follow in requesting and arranging such visits to ensure that they occur without unnecessary difficulty and in accordance with applicable international conventions, U.S. domestic law, detention facility regulations, and previous agreements between the United States and the Government of Colombia. Visits by Consular Officials: The United States is committed to meeting its obligations under relevant consular conventions and will continue to facilitate, within the bounds of its international legal obligations, the access of Colombian consular officials to these individuals. Most consular visits made in accordance with the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations of 1963 (Vienna Convention) require no advance approval by the United States and can be arranged by consular officials directly with the detention center. The United States has no objection to consular visits by accredited consular officers to detained Colombian nationals who consent to such visits, provided the purpose of the visit is to perform a traditional consular function aimed at safeguarding the detained nationals own personal interests. These include the functions expressly set forth in Article 36: conversing and corresponding with the detainee and arranging for his legal representation. Another permissible consular function is the delivery of correspondence addressed to the detainee, subject to applicable regulations of the detention facility. This correspondence could include a notification informing the detainee that judicial proceedings have been opened against him in a Colombian court. It would then be within the scope of the consular officers duties to assist the detainee in transmitting messages to the Colombian court or to his Colombian counsel, provided any such assistance accords with applicable regulations of the detention facility. The United States has become aware, however, that recently there have been instances in which non-consular officials have represented themselves to be consular officers and obtained entrance into U.S. detention facilities. We respectfully request that the Government of Colombia advise its officials and consular officers that it is not appropriate for non-consular officials to make such representations. Colombian officials who are not duly accredited consular officers can follow other protocols, described below, to arrange official visits with Colombian citizens detained in the United States. Improperly identifying themselves as consular officials can result in delay or denial of their own visits and can make it more difficult for accredited consular officials to conduct routine consular visits. The United States wishes to reiterate that all visits, including visits by consular officers, must be undertaken in accordance with the security rules of the facility at which the individual in question is incarcerated. Such visits may also be governed by other applicable regulations of the facility. Finally, consular visits will be facilitated if Colombian consular officers ascertain from officials of the detention facility in advance whether the incarcerated individual consents to the visit. In most cases, consular visits to an unconsenting individual subsequent to the initial visit will be inappropriate. It has also come to our attention that some consular visits are being undertaken in an attempt to conduct law enforcement activities, including obtaining interviews, testimony, and/or indagatorias from Colombian defendants who are incarcerated in U.S. facilities, and may have pending charges in the United States. In addition, some of these Colombian defendants are the subjects of assistance requests from the Colombian Supreme Court, Fiscalia, or lower courts in Colombia. Several of these visits have been attempted by consular officers without prior consultation with the United States Central Authority, the Department of Justices Office of International Affairs (OIA),designated in accordance with Article 3 of the Inter-American Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters (OAS Convention). As you are aware, the Vienna Convention, to which both the United States and Colombia are parties, provides in Article 5 that one of the consular functions is the transmittal of judicial and extrajudicial documents, or executing letters rogatory or commissions to take evidence for the courts of the sending State. However, taking of evidence must be done in accordance with international agreements in force or, in the absence of such agreements, in any other manner compatible with the laws and regulations of the receiving State. Similarly, as noted above, while the Vienna Convention provides in Article 36 that consular officers shall have the right to visit a detained national, converse and correspond with him, and arrange for his legal representation, the purpose of those visits is to safeguard the interests of the detainee, rather than to engage in law enforcement activities. These attempted consular visits have complicated the United States facilitation of access to Colombian defendants by Colombian judicial officials because most of the consular officers efforts appear to be duplicative of judicial assistance requests the United States has received from the Fiscalia regarding many of the same defendants. In this regard, the September 5, 2008, letter from Ambassador William Brownfield to then-Minister of Interior and Justice Carlos Holguin Sardi, referred to in more detail below, reiterated our two countries agreement for Colombian officials to make their requests regarding law-enforcement matters, especially regarding the extradited former paramilitary leaders, in conformity with the applicable international conventions and through their respective central authorities to OIA. If the Colombian government wishes to specially designate its consular officers to take testimony for the purpose of a Colombian criminal proceeding, a judicial assistance request should be submitted in advance to OIA in accordance with the procedures described above and previously agreed by our two governments. That request should contain the name of the specially designated consular officer or officers, as well as the following information, as agreed at the meeting held on November 17, 2009, in Washington, D.C., between representatives of the Embassy of Colombia, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Departments of State and Justice: (1) the name of the requesting authority, case name, and case number; (2) a brief description of the Colombian criminal investigation or proceeding for which the assistance is requested; (3) a brief description of the assistance requested and how it will advance the investigation or proceeding; and (4) a description of the procedures which the United States is requested to follow in providing the assistance. Upon receipt of the request, OIA will review it and take appropriate action. Visits by Criminal Justice Officials: Visits by Colombian prosecutors or criminal justice officials for purposes of conducting interviews and taking testimony with respect to Colombian criminal investigations and prosecutions must be requested through a judicial assistance request and authorized in advance by appropriate United States officials, specifically the Department of Justices OIA, which is the central authority for receipt, review, and execution of all judicial assistance requests from Colombia. Recently, however, the Department of Justice has learned of unauthorized interviews of incarcerated Colombian citizens by Colombian prosecutors and other criminal justice officials in regards to that individuals participation in the Justice and Peace process. Judicial assistance requests relating to any Colombian citizen incarcerated in the United States should be made through Colombias designated central authorities to the Central Authority of the United States. With respect to the former paramilitary leaders incarcerated in U.S. jails, the Department of Justice has committed that it will take reasonable steps to facilitate access to those individuals by Colombian prosecutors, judges, and other criminal justice officials, consistent with the applicable international conventions and practices and the interests of the criminal prosecutions in the United States. To further simplify the transmission of judicial assistance requests regarding those former paramilitaries, in the September 5, 2008, letter from Ambassador William Brownfield to then-Minister of Interior and Justice Carlos Holguin Sardi, the United States Embassy in Bogot agreed to receive and forward to OIA all judicial assistance requests related to the former paramilitary leaders extradited to the United States in May 2008 and thereafter. These procedures have worked extremely well. Pursuant to Colombian judicial assistance requests made under the OAS Convention regarding the former paramilitary leaders, the United States Department of Justice has facilitated more than thirty days of video depositions in Colombian criminal cases pending before the Supreme Court of Justice and investigations under the Justice and Peace Law (Law 975 of 2005). These proceedings, many of which were transmitted to victims throughout Colombia, have advanced numerous prosecutions and investigations of individuals in Colombia, as well as the identification and forfeiture of substantial assets, which can be used for victim reparations. We request that Colombian prosecutors and criminal justice officials not participate in any unauthorized visits and continue to use these established procedures regarding interviews and taking of testimony in criminal matters from all Colombian citizens incarcerated in the United States, including the former paramilitary leaders. Visits by Other Colombian Officials: The United States notes that over the last several months other Colombian officials who are not accredited consular officers, prosecutors, or criminal justice officials have also visited several former paramilitary leaders. These officials have included members of the Colombian legislature, who have stated their intention and desire to advance the Justice and Peace process by seeking the former paramilitary leaders continued cooperation in providing information about their human rights violations and providing restitution to victims and their survivors. Provided the competent authorities of the detention facility in question do not object to such visits by other Colombian officials, the United States, in general, has no objection to visits by other Colombian officials and wishes to ensure that they occur smoothly. We also wish to ensure that visiting Colombian officials are, consistent with the applicable prison requirements, not unduly inconvenienced. Prior notification to the Department of State of these visits will enhance the ability of the United States to meet these objectives. While, unlike visits sought pursuant to a judicial assistance request, the Department of Justice cannot facilitate visits by other Colombian officials, it can ascertain in advance from appropriate agencies whether the visits can be accomplished, and whether they can occur conveniently and smoothly at the time desired. We note that many of the incarcerated Colombians to which officials have sought access have been accused or convicted of serious crimes of violence. Prior coordination of visits will facilitate any additional safety and security measures as may prove necessary to ensure the safety and security of the visiting Colombian officials and others. The Department of State believes that this necessary prior coordination of visits can be accomplished through a straightforward procedure. First, the Colombian officials who are not accredited consular officers or criminal justice officials should make their requests for access to any Colombian citizen incarcerated in the United States, including the former paramilitary leaders, through the diplomatic channel, i.e., the Colombian Foreign Ministry or the Colombian Embassy in Washington, D.C. The Foreign Ministry or Embassy should contact the Department of State at least twenty-one days before the proposed visit, so the Department can complete necessary coordination with other involved U.S. government agencies, including the Department of Justice, as well as the authorities of the detention facility in question. Once the United States has determined whether the visits can be conducted as requested, it will notify the Colombian Embassy so the visitors can be advised and can make final arrangements with the detention facility. The U.S. Embassy informs the Foreign Ministry of its urgent desire to see such procedures put in place and requests assistance in their rapid and effective implementation. [Complimentary closing] END TEXT. CLINTON