25 legal experts as ‘questionable testimonies’, since their credibility is undermined.”15 On June 8, 1999, the Appellate Court of the Judicial District of Bogotá confirmed such decision. Afterwards, the Constitutional Court decided not to exercise its discretionary powers to review a petition for protective remedies filed by Mr. Gutiérrez-Soler. 48(10) Up to this date, no person has been punished for the false arrest of Mr. Wilson Gutiérrez-Soler and for the tortures that he suffered. 48(11) On the grounds of the statement made on August 24, 1994 by Mr. Gutiérrez-Soler, which was obtained under torture, proceedings were commenced against him, for the crime of extortion, by the then so called Regional Justice on September 2, 1994, and an order for him to be held in custody was issued. On January 20, 1995, the Special Prosecutor before the Appellate Court decided to revoke the said order, and to direct his release from custody, since the complaint against Mr. Gutiérrez-Soler was “infested with contradictions” and “could not be evaluated by the reasonable credit and weight analysis standards and even less, be given any credibility.”16 On May 6, 1999, an accusation was formally issued against Mr. Gutiérrez-Soler, but the warrant for his arrest was revoked after an appeal lodged by his defense. 48(12) Finally, on August 26, 2002, after eight years from his initial arrest, Mr. Gutiérrez-Soler was acquitted for the crime of extortion by a decision of the Eighth Special Criminal Circuit Court of Bogotá. According to such decision, there was no certainty as regards the criminal liability of Mr. Gutiérrez-Soler because “the Police report number 1762 dated August 25, 1994, signed by Colonel Luis Gonzaga Enciso, [...] by means of which Mr. Wilson Gutiérrez-Soler, allegedly arrested in fraganti extortion, was placed at the disposal of the Regional Prosecutor’s Office, can in no way be considered as [evidence] enough to hold [the above said Mr. GutiérrezSoler] liable as the perpetrator of a punishable act. This being so, since, on the one hand the person who personally appeared at the operation was Colonel Luis Gonzaga Enciso, a cousin of the informant [Ricardo Dalel], a fact which, to begin with, may show a certain tendency to favor the interests of his next of kin, in view of the fact that it is most rare that officers of such a rank be present in this kind of operations.” Furthermore, the court also held that “the arrest in itself is questionable since it lead to the possible torture of the subject by the said officer in the presence of the informant, causing the subject to be laid up for 18 days, due to burns in his genitalia, according to the report issued by the National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences [...] In the light of the reasonable credit and weight analysis standards, [the aforesaid circumstances] allow the court to consider that this arrest should not be given much value.”17 15 Cf. Examination preclusion order issued by the judge presiding the examination instituted against Mr. Ricardo Dalel Barón, issued on January 15, 1998 by the Prosecutor’s Office Nº 248 of the Battery First Unit of Bogota (record of annexes to the preliminary objections, answer to the complaint and comments to the petition and allegations, book I, annex 1, folios 1342 and 1343.) 16 Cf. resolution issued on January 20, 1995 by the Special Prosecutor’s Office before the National Court, by means of which the custody of Mr. Wilson Gutiérrez-Soler was revoked (Record of Annexes to the Petitions and Allegations, book I, folios 898 t0 905; and Annexes filed by the State, Records of the Military Criminal Court against Colonel Luis Gonzaga Enciso Barón, Book 2, folios 1711 and 1712.) 17 Cf. Order of Acquittal issued on August 26, 2002 by the Eighth Special Criminal Circuit Court of Bogota (Records of Annexes to the Complaint, Annex 3, Book I, folios 162-170, and Records of Annexes to the Petitions and Allegations, Book I, folios 857-866.)