Concern over death threats against lawyers Alirio Uribe, Yessika Hoyos Morales and three MOVICE members
Members of the IX International Caravana of Jurists to Colombia, joined by Lawyers for Lawyers and other bar and rights groups, report that lawyers Yessika Hoyos Morales and Alirio Uribe of the José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers’ Collective and three members of the victims’ movement MOVICE received death threats by mobile message on October 18. The message told them to prepare coffins if a convicted former official were sent to prison, and said they were being watched; the sender is not identified. The threats appear to relate to the La Guaripa case, in which a court in Sincelejo convicted the former director of the Sucre Family Compensation Fund (Comfasucre) in September of ordering three killings in 2018, and sentenced him to 27 years. The signatories call on Colombian authorities to investigate the threats, protect the five individuals, and guarantee that lawyers can work without intimidation.