13 American Commission and by the representatives. The court will now summarize the relevant parts of these statements and of the expert report. TESTIMONY a) Testimony by Mr. Wilson Gutiérrez-Soler, alleged victim The witness, Mr. Wilson Gutiérrez-Soler, a Colombian national, currently lives in the United States of America. At the time he was arrested, the witness drove a taxi, worked in judicial auctions, and was a mechanic. His automobile make reparations shop opened at 9 a.m. and closed at about 4 or 5 p.m. The income he derived from such activities allowed him to provide reasonably well for his family. His daily family routine was like that of any person “considered normal; a family with a wife and a child, and on weekends the theater or the movies.” The witness brought vehicles from Venezuela, for which reason he travelled a great deal; however, he was not separated or divorced from his wife. At the time the events took place, Wilson lived at his mother-in-law’s with his wife and his son Kevin. However, after the events, his wife and his son continued living at Wilson’s mother-in-law’s, but he himself moved to his parents’ house. Custody of Kevin was given to his mother “for many obvious reasons; whatever or whomever was close to me or on my side, was not going to be well, and the threats were directed at my family.” After being seized in an illegal operation, he was prosecuted for extorsion, in a process that lasted 8 years, during which, according to Mr. GutiérrezSoler’s statement, his self-esteem and his private, professional and family life were impaired. “It tore my family apart, because they obviously no longer saw me as a decent person, but what this people wanted was to make me be seen as a criminal. It definitely did away with my life—and not only my own, but that of my son and that of my wife as well.” In addition, as a result of the acts of torture, the life of the witness changed dramatically. “My family was lost; the father-to-son family bond was lost. Not only did they take away my own self-esteem, but they also took away my family and my parents.” Likewise, his brother Ricardo Gutiérrez-Soler, who has always supported him, also came to harm ever since he learned about the events. Mr. Ricardo Gutiérrez-Soler cut himself off from his own family. “He is forced to live from place to place, he can’t have a permanent residence or work steadily.” The witness’ mother is living in a village under dire conditions. The torture suffered by the witness is “something that is not at all easy to live with; more so that the way where they were inflicted on him made them leave lifelong traces, it is one of those parts of the body where one is reminded every day of what happened, so it’s not easy to live with that.” The witness felt he was under a duty to report his individual case of torture, as he knew that what had happened “was wrong”. Moreover, he entertained hopes that justice would be done, which for him it meant that: “any person