Case Restrepo

The Restrepo case is a human rights violation that took place in Ecuador in which brothers Carlos Santiago and Pedro Andres Restrepo disappeared in 1988. Several pieces of evidence and testimony indicate that the youths were brutally tortured and ultimately murdered by the police. On the basis of statements by the witness Hugo España, who only turned himself to justice years later, more was learned about the course of the crime. However, the veracity of España's confessions has been questioned in recent years.

facts

According to the father of the victims, both brothers drove off in the family car early in the morning of January 8, 1988 to deliver their younger sister to a children's party. After getting home, they drove to Quito at around 10:00 am to visit a friend. After it is unclear what happened, the brothers were never seen again. They were probably stopped by the police because no one had a driver's license. Then they were handed over to the Servicio de Inteligencia Criminal de Pichincha (SIC-P) (by which they were tortured for several days), where Hugo España was on duty as an official. According to one of his statements, one of the brothers was first tortured until he succumbed to his injuries. The second brother was allegedly only murdered to cover up the crime.

Search 1988–2012

48 hours after the boys disappeared, the parents, with the help of the Red Cross , the police and other groups, started a major search that was largely unsuccessful, the minors were nowhere to be found.

For the next 11 months, after the boys disappeared, the family received inconclusive, inconsistent, and illegal information from the police. Thanks to what Hugo España said, more light was shed on the events of January 8, 1988. According to España, the boys' bodies were first hidden in the days after the murder and then thrown into Lake Yambo near Quito. The bodies were not found this time either.

The car the brothers drove in was later found in the Pacha Gorge near the El Batán district. In retrospect it turned out that this could only have been a staging by the police. There was no further evidence of the young people's whereabouts.

In 2011 there were new indications of the possible whereabouts of the brothers' remains. After that, the bodies should have been buried in an unnamed grave in the El Batán cemetery. According to a cemetery employee, around the time of the search for the two brothers, in 1988, three unknown dead came to the cemetery. This gave investigators grounds to question the statements made by ex-SIC-P agent Hugo España. On December 30, 2011, a brief interview with the father of the two victims was published, in which he doubts the possibility that his sons were buried in the cemetery. But he is sure that you can at least find evidence of other disappeared people. On January 10, 2012, a spokesman for the prosecution assured that the results of the examinations on the excavated bodies would be published in a month.

Possible participation of a ministry

Allegedly, coordination, especially for the withholding of evidence, is said to have come from a high state ministry under the leadership of Luis Robles Plaza , this opinion was held by the father of the victims then and still today.

"Si no fuera así, ¿cómo se explicaría que toda una institución estatal a continuación coordinara una estrategia completa de encubrimiento?"

"How else do you want to explain that an entire state institution has organized a complete strategy of concealment?"

Procedure

Against cops

According to Hugo España's statements, several police officers were involved in the disappearance and the cover-up of the murder. From 1991 to 1994, several officers from the Ecuadorian police were arrested and sentenced for this.

Insight of the state

In 1990 a special commission took control of the case and several legal proceedings were initiated. But without ending with a declaration of responsibility by the state for the act. On August 6, 1997, Pedro Restrepo (father) sent a complaint against the Ecuadorian state to the Commission, the complaint was forwarded by the Commission to the State on January 22, 1998, in accordance with the Commission's rules.

On May 14, 1998, an amicable settlement agreement was signed by both parties (Ecua State and Pedro Restrepo).

In the 3rd point of the agreement, the Ecuadorian state takes full responsibility:

"Con estos antecedentes, el Estado ecuatoriano ha reconocido ante la Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos su culpabilidad en los hechos narrados y se ha obligado a asumir medidas reparadoras mediante el empleo de la figura del arreglo amistoso prevista en art. 45 del Reglamento de la prevista Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos. "

"In this context, the Ecuadorian state has declared before the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights that it is responsible for the facts described and that it undertakes to initiate redress in accordance with Article 45 of the regulations of the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights."

compensation

The state also committed itself to a one-time compensation in the amount of 2,000,000 USD . This was intended to cover the moral and economic consequential damage of the act. The amount should be paid to the minor's father.

filming

The younger sister of the two boys, María Fernanda, made a documentary film about the disappearance of their brothers. The title of the film is "Con mi Corazón en Yambo" "With my heart in Yambo" The film was released on October 14, 2011 in the Ecuadorian cinemas. In November 2011 the film was shown at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam .

Literature (selection)

• El amor contra el poder, Los Restrepo en el laberinto de la impunidad; Claude Roulet y Dora Quintero; Primera edición mayo 1996 ISBN 9978-95-016-8
• El Testigo, Hugo España Torres, Editorial El Conejo, ISBN 9978042148

Web links

• http://www.elcomercio.com/seguridad/Caso-Restrepo-cumple-anos_0_623337782.html
• http://www.hoy.com.ec/noticias-ecuador/termina-la-busqueda-de-los-hermanos-restrepo-349925.html
• http://elimperdible.ec/web/cine/un-documental-para-no-olvidar.html
• http://www.cedhu.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=117&Itemid=10
• https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/amr28/004/1994/en/
• http://www.npla.de/de/poonal/archiv/52 ECUADOR; In the National Palace there is impunity.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ REVISTA VISTAZO, N. 697, pp. 6-11
2. ↑ http://www.eluniverso.com/2011/12/07/1/1355/peritos-fiscalia-retoman-busqueda-hermanos-restrepo-batan.html
3. ↑ http://www.hoy.com.ec/noticias-ecuador/caso-restrepo-inicia-diligencia-de-fiscalia-en-cementerio-de-el-batan-510032.html
4. ↑ http://www.ecuadorinmediato.com/index.php?module=Noticias&func=news_user_view&id=164387&umt=pedro_restrepo3a_27no_creo_que_en_cementerio_de_el_bate1n_este9n_mis_hijos27
5. ↑ http://www.hoy.com.ec/noticias-ecuador/caso-restrepo-la-pericia-estara-lista-en-15-dias-527109.html
6. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from December 17, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
7. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from January 6, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
8. ↑ Amnesty International 1996 ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
9. ↑ ^{a b} http://www.cidh.oas.org/annualrep/2000sp/CapituloIII/Sol.Ami/Ecuador11.868.htm
10. ↑ ^{a b} http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/cases/99-00.html
11. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original dated November 30, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
12. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from December 1, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.