Abstract

LOPEZ-MEDINA, Diego. INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS FOR THE INVESTIGATION AND PROSECUTION OF SYSTEM CRIMES IN THE CONTEXT OF TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE: ITS APPLICATION TO THE COLOMBIAN CASE. Int. Law: Rev. Colomb. Derecho Int. [online]. 2010, n.16, pp.45-80. ISSN 1692-8156.

This article reviews critically the work and results of the Justice and Peace Division at the Colombian Attorney General's office. To do this, the article resorts to comparative law to examine the way in which complex system crimes have been investigated and prosecuted in contexts of transitional justice. The article describes the opinions of those who defend a maximalist approach towards those investigations and prosecutions. According to the maximalist position, the totality of crimes and authors must be prosecuted and tried in the framework of the Colombian Justice and Peace Act of 2005. The text discusses these opinions critically due to the difficulties that such strategy would involve. Finally the article concludes by showing how a less ambitious and more pragmatic approach would be clearly superior in the Colombian case. Justice and Peace investigations must concentrate in the fundamental patterns of the system crimes committed; the State should employ reasonable strategies for prioritizing and taking to trial the gravest cases and/or the highest responsible persons. This approach would be much more conductive to reaching the goals of truth, justice, reparation, and no repetition contained in the Law.

Keywords : Transitional justice; Peace and Justice; Criminal Investigation; Human Rights; Attorney General's Office; Peace and Justice; Human Rights; Legal Research.

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