4.3.5. People involved in the justice system

4.3.5. People involved in the justice system

There has been a reduction in the number of attacks and murders of legal professionals since 2016; however, people involved in the justice system, including justice officials and crime witnesses are still targeted,144F710 with high levels of impunity.711 During the past three years, illegal armed groups have increasingly extended their use of violence beyond direct confrontation with state security forces, targeting judicial and bureaucratic institutions during specific moments such as electoral cycles or in the aftermath of major armed clashes. There has been a 'dramatic increase' in the number of requests for personal protection by judicial workers, according to DeJusticia.⁷¹² In some cases, lawyers who worked with ethnic communities were surveilled, followed, harassed and threatened by armed groups; pressure has been placed on judges involved in murder cases, or they have been attacked or threatened.713 In another example, after former President Uribe Vélez's 2025 conviction for fraud and witness tampering, the presiding judge faced online threats and defamation, prompting the National Protection Unit (Unidad Nacional de Protección, UNP) to consider heightened protection and to call for safeguarding judicial independence.714 Examples of incidents in the reference period included:

• in September 2023, the facilities of the criminal courts in Tuluá (Valle del Cauca) were attacked with explosives;715

• in November 2024, a female official of the investigation corps of the FGN in La Guajira was murdered by a gunman on a motorcycle;716

• in January 2025, a lawyer was assassinated in a public street in a town south of Bogotá; the suspect was caught with the weapon in flagrante delicto, but later released, sparking criticism of the justice system;717

• in April 2024, AGC declared judges and prosecutors operating in the department of Cesar as 'military targets' through a pamphlet campaign, threatening not only police and military personnel but also judicial officials, naming two female members of the judiciary who had been handling cases against the group;718

• in July 2025, a lawyer was assassinated by a gunman in his own office;719

• in September 2025, in rural Boyacá, a trial attorney at the local circuit court was found dead in his own residence, showing signs of violence.720