18 panic. The events suffered by Mr. Wilson Gutiérrez-Soler satisfy this requirement. The second criterion is the upsetting recurrence of spontaneous flashbacks of the event that produce emotional suffering every time they happen. Such flashbacks may arise either while awake or while sleeping, or may be brought to mind by stimuli from the environment. Mr. GutiérrezSoler said that he had to fight back those memories which reoccur daily when he uses the toilet, when he sees the scars, when he hears someone speak using strong tones or when he sees people fighting. “The rape profoundly affected his self-esteem, and his masculine dignity was hurt.” The third criterion is avoidance, which means that the person avoids exposure to situations that bring back the traumatic experience. Mr. Gutiérrez-Soler isolates himself socially in order to avoid being asked questions, since that would remind him of the reasons why he travelled to the United States. He has almost no relations with other Colombians there, as they make him feel uneasy and fearful that they might have some connection with the Government officials who caused him so many problems. The fourth criterion is the presence of symptoms of hyperarousal or exaggerated reactions to minimum stimuli and of irritability. Mr. GutiérrezSoler points out that he became very temperamental after having been tortured, and that that worsened some existing marital conflicts. At that time he was impatient and intolerant with his own son. Currently, he still has disturbances during sleep, difficulty to fall asleep and is startled out of his sleep by soft noises. The fifth criterion is that these symptoms last for over a month. Mr. Gutiérrez-Soler has had these symptoms for more than ten years and, even though they used to be more intense in the past, he still has them with varying intensity. Although his condition has improved in some aspects, he must anyway receive psychological treatment. The last criterion concerns impairment in the labor, learning and social areas. As regards work, he has mostly relied on the support of his family for years. Mr. Gutiérrez-Soler shows other symptoms overlapping the post-traumatic stress diagnosis, which amount to a condition of depression, such as lack of energy, a pesimistic view of the world, a sad mood, reduced appetite and almost inexistent sexual desire. Moreover, impunity has intensified all the symptoms and the reactions Mr. Gutiérrez-Soler has had, and has reflected on his vision of justice. As for Kevin Gutiérrez-Niño, the son of Mr. Wilson Gutiérrez-Soler, the expert witness pointed out that their relationship was practically inexistent up to just a few months ago, when Kevin moved in with his father. The father-son relationship was deeply affected, because Kevin only had his mother’s and her family’s version of the facts, according to which Mr. Gutiérrez-Soler was “irresponsible and did not fulfil his duties.” This severely affected Kevin’s self-esteem, as “he felt inferior for not having a normal father by his side and felt helpless to change things.” Both father and son are currently working on “recover a relationship that was almost inexistent.” The expert witness states that Mr. Ricardo Gutiérrez-Soler, brother to Mr. Wilson Gutiérrez-Soler, and his family were also affected by the events. Ricardo has seven children, and the events affected his family’s life. Two of his sons, who at the time the events took place were nine and thirteen 13 years old, cut themselves away from their family and went on their own