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his testimony that he agreed to his case being publicly known as a way to contribute
in avoiding events as the ones he suffered from happening to others. Along these
lines, the Court considers that the State must include Mr. Wilson Gutiérrez-Soler’s
case in the program mentioned in paragraph 106, as a teaching aid to contribute
towards preventing this sort of events from happening again.
108. On the other hand, although studying the Inter-American System for Human
Rights Protection precedents is a crucial factor to prevent ocurrences such as the
ones that befell Mr. Wilson Gutiérrez-Soler, the State must also adopt the necessary
measures so that such precedents, as well as those of the Constitutional Court of
Colombia regarding military jurisdiction, be effectively followed in domestic courts.
e)
Implementation of the standards in the Manual on the Effective Investigation
and Documentation of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment (“the Istanbul Protocol”)
109. The Court notices that the expert witness María Cristina Nunes de Mendonça
(supra para. 42), pointed out that the examinations practised on Mr. Wilson
Gutiérrez-Soler are incomplete, for they lacked photographic records, and also
because examinations for internal injuries were not conducted. According to the
expert witness, such omissions influenced the subsequent construction of the
examinations and the outcome of the domestic proceedings, which were instituted
as the result of the events in the instant case. She also pointed out the importance
of implementing the standards of the Istanbul Protocol in cases of torture, for it
describes how to conduct a medical examination and how to draft reports about
victims of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. By reason of the
foregoing, the expert witness specified that observing said standards prevents such
facts from going unnoticed and remaining unpunished.
110. Along such lines, the Court deems that by disseminating and implementing
the standards of the Istanbul Protocol may contribute effectively to protecting the
right to humane treatment in Colombia. For such reason, the State must implement
a training program including said international standards, to be taken by physicians
working in official arrest centers and by National Institute of Legal Medicine and
Forensic Sciences staff, as well as by prosecutors and judges in charge of
investigating and trying cases such as the one affecting Mr. Wilson Gutiérrez-Soler,
so as to provide such staff with the necessary technical and scientific know-how to
assess possible cases of torture or cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment.
Likewise, the Court considers it necessary that such training program include the
Wilson Gutiérrez–Soler case as a measure aimed at preventing repetition of such
kind of events.
f)
Strengthening controls of arrest centers
111. The Commission and the State agreed on the need, as a preventive measure,
to strengthen existing controls with respect to persons arrested in Colombia. The
Commission likewise indicated that the constant psychological evaluation of state
staff who are in contact with persons arrested would constitute an important
preventive measure; moreover, it declared that a physical examination of persons
arrested upon arrival at the arrest center could contribute to detecting acts of
torture, or cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment.
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