Among the most severe attacks against Committee in Solidarity with Political Prisoners (FCSPP) in 2015, the following are worthy of note:

Threats and acts of aggression

• January: The National Attorney General’s Office issued an alert, warned of a plot to murder lawyer José Humberto Torre, Vice-president of the FCSPP, which was allegedly being planned by demobilized paramilitaries jailed at the Modelo Prison in Barranquilla and members of the regional Police. The assassination attempt was going to be carried out by detonating explosives when José Humberto’s vehicle passed by, on the 27 December 2014; however the lawyer was out of town.[1]
• 11 January: Mass threats against human rights defenders in the Caribbean region from the Águilas Negras’ North Bloc of the Atlantic Coast. Among those threatened were members of CCAJAR, FCSPP and MOVICE-Sucre Chapter. Altogether 39 people were declared “military targets” and threatened with death.[2]
• 21 January: Threats via a pamphlet from the Gaitanista Self-Defence Forces of Colombia, directed at 38 people, including several members of FCSPP such as Franklin Castañeda and José Humberto Torres, President and Vice-president, respectively.[3]
• 9 March: Mass threats by means of a pamphlet from the Águilas Negras South Bloc targeting political leaders and organizations such as FCSPP and CCAJAR.[4]

Slander and defamations

• 11 May: Dieb Nicolas Maloof Cusse, a former senator condemned for politically supporting paramilitaries, publicly accused Jose Humberto Torres, of the Committee in Solidarity with Political Prisoners (FCSPP), in an interview with El Espectador newspaper, in which he accuses him of looking for false witnesses against him, and manipulating due process. The former senator accused Torres of being a “national chief of the cartel of false witnesses”. Through twitter accounts like @todosconmaloff, Torres has been the object of several kinds of defamatory or aggressive comments.[5]
• 14 July: Accusations leveled by General Rodolfo Palomino López, director of the Colombian National Police, against Gloria Silva, member of the Committee in Solidarity with Political Prisoners (Fcspp, in Spanish) and defense attorney for Paola Salgado, one of the 13 members of the Congreso de los Pueblos (People’s Congress) detained in Bogotá on July 8th for alleged acts of rebellion, terrorism and damage to property.[6]

Footnotes:

[1] Emisora Atlántico: Revelan plan para asesinar al defensor de derechos humanos José Humberto Torres, 15 January 2015
[2] El Heraldo: Nuevas amenazas a líderes y defensores de víctimas, 14 January 2015
[3] Amnesty International, Land restitution process sparks more threats, 23 January 2015; Organization of American States: IACHR Condemns Killings and Threats Against Defenders and Journalists in Colombia, 30 January 2015
[4] Verdad Abierta: Documents, March 2015
[5] CCEEU: Inadmisibles Acusaciones contra Defensor de Derechos Humanos, 15 May 2015
[6] La FM: General Palomino: no capturamos ángeles ni arcángeles, 14 July 2015