1095 OF 2006

(November 2)

Official Journal No. 46.440 of 2 November 2006

CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC

For which article 30 of the Political Constitution is regulated.

COLOMBIA CONGRESS

DECRETA:

ARTICLE 1o. Habeas Corpus is a fundamental right and, at the same time, a constitutional action that protects personal freedom when someone is deprived of liberty with violation of constitutional or legal guarantees, or is prolonged illegally. This action may be invoked or initiated only once and for its decision the pro homine principle shall apply.

The Habeas Corpus will not be suspended, even in the States of Exception.

ARTICLE 2o. COMPETITION. The competence to resolve Habeas Corpus requests will be established according to the following rules:

1. They are competent to resolve the request of Habeas Corpus all judges and courts of the Judicial Branch of the Public Power.

2. When you stand in front of a Corporation, you will have each of its members as an individual judge to resolve the Habeas Corpus actions.

If the judge who has been dealt with the action has already known in advance of the judicial action that the request of Habeas Corpus originates, it must be declared prevented to resolve on this and to carry out the proceedings, immediate, to the next judge-or the nearest municipality-of the same hierarchy, who will have to rule on the action within the intended terms.

ARTICLE 3o. GUARANTEES FOR THE EXERCISE OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL ACTION OF HABEAS CORPUS. Who is illegally deprived of his or her liberty is entitled to the following guarantees:

1. Invoke before any competent judicial authority the Habeas Corpus to be resolved in a term of thirty-six (36) hours.

2. That the action may be invoked by third parties on its behalf, without any need for a mandate.

3. That the action can be invoked at any time, while the violation persists.

To do this, within three (3) months of the entry into force of this law, the Superior Council of the Judiciary will regulate a system of judicial shifts for the attention of the requests of Habeas Corpus in the country, during Twenty-four (24) hours of the day, holidays and times of judicial vacancy.

4. The action shall not be suspended or postponed because of the interposition of public holidays or of judicial vacancy.

5. To the Ombudsman's Office and the Attorney General's Office to invoke the Habeas Corpus on its behalf.

ARTICLE 4. REQUEST CONTENT The Habeas Corpus request must contain:

1. The name of the person in whose favor the action is established.

2. The reasons why it is considered that the deprivation of their freedom is illegal or arbitrary.

3. The date of imprisonment and the place where the private person of liberty is located.

4. If the name and position of the official who has ordered the deprivation of liberty of the person or persons on whose behalf is acted, is known.

5. The name, identity document and place of residence of the applicant.

6. The claim, under the seriousness of the oath; that it will be considered to be borrowed by the filing of the petition, that no other judge has assumed the knowledge of the Habeas Corpus application or decided upon it.

The absence of one of these requirements will not prevent the processing of the Habeas Corpus from being carried out, if the information provided is sufficient to do so.

The action may be exercised without any formality or authentication. It may be filed verbally. No action will be required by proxy.

ARTICLE 5o. PROCEDURE. In places where there are two (2) or more competent judicial authorities of the same category, the request of Habeas Corpus shall be subject to immediate distribution between those officials. The judicial authority to which the Habeas Corpus is responsible may not be challenged in any case; once the application has been received, an inspection may be issued to the proceedings that may exist in the case that gave rise to the request. You may also request the director of the detention centre, and the authorities you consider to be relevant, for urgent information about the deprivation of liberty. The lack of immediate response to these requests will be extremely serious.

The competent judicial authority shall endeavour to meet in all cases with the person in whose favour the action of Habeas Corpus is established. To this end, it may be ordered that it be presented to him, in order to interview it and verify the facts recorded in the petition. For the same purpose, you can move to the place where the person in whose favour the action is established is located, if there are grounds of convenience, security or opportunity that do not advise the person to be transferred to the judicial headquarters.

However, the judicial authority will be able to dispense with this interview, when it does not consider it necessary. The reasons for this decision must be displayed in the providence you decide about the Habeas Corpus.

ARTICLE 6o. DECISION. Demonstrated the violation of the constitutional or legal guarantees, the competent judicial authority shall immediately order the release of the private person of the freedom, by self-interlocutor against which no recourse is necessary

ARTICLE 7o. IMPEACHMENT. The providence that denies the Habeas Corpus may be challenged, within the three (3) calendar days following the notification. The challenge will be subject to the following rules:

1. Filed the challenge, the judge will forward the proceedings within the next twenty-four (24) hours to the corresponding hierarchical superior. The file will be dealt with immediately and will be failed within three (3) business days.

2. When the superior hierarchical judge is a plural judge, the appeal will be substantially substantiated and failed by one of the members of the Corporation, without requiring the approval of the respective room or section. Each of the members of the Corporation will be held as an individual judge to resolve the Habeas Corpus challenges.

ARTICLE 8o. (1) FAILURE TO APPLY RESTRICTIVE MEASURES ON FREEDOM. The person deprived of liberty, in violation of the guarantees enshrined in the Constitution or in the law, shall not be affected by a restrictive measure of freedom until he has been restore the broken guarantees. Therefore, measures aimed at preventing the freedom of the captive when it is granted as a result of the Habeas Corpus are non-existent.

ARTICLE 9o. INITIATION OF CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION. Recognized the Habeas Corpus, the judicial authority will make copies so that the competent official initiates the investigations to take place, without detriment to the legal restorative actions of damages you estimate to bring forward the affected.

ARTICLE 10. VALIDITY. This law governs from its promulgation and repeals all that which is contrary to it.

The President of the honorable Senate of the Republic,

DILIAN FRANCSCA TORO TORRES.

The Secretary General of the honorable Senate of the Republic,

EMILIO RAMON OTERO DAJUD.

The President of the honorable House of Representatives,

ALFREDO APE NECK BAUTE.

The Secretary General of the honorable House of Representatives,

ANGELINO LIZANO RIVERA.

COLOMBIA-NATIONAL GOVERNMENT

Publish and comply.

Dada en Bogotá, D. C., 2 November 2006.

ALVARO URIBE VELEZ

The Minister of the Interior and Justice,

CARLOS HOLGUIN SARDI.