Thursday, May 9, 2013

judicializacion: malicious prosecution on trumped up charges

I've posted about this one before, but I was moved to repost this because I saw the cognate (judicialization) used again and want to emphasize that I believe this a FALSE cognate to be avoided - as can be seen by the English definition here and by googling it in English and seeing how it is used.

I am sad to say that these are still rampant in Colombia, the latest victim being human rights defender Sofia Lopez.  WOLA writes:

On April 12, 2013 CorporaciĆ³n Justicia y Dignidad was informed that one of its staff, Sofia Lopez, is currently under investigation by the Attorney General’s office for rebellion along with sixty other persons It is concerning is included in a list that includes persons who have already been arrested and sentenced. It is disturbing that this revelation comes after Lopez was harassed and intimidated in April. On April 4, 2013 a woman approached her calling her a “guerilla lawyer” and saying that “guerilla lawyers die here, they kill them here, so be careful.” The presence of two suspicious men in front of the lawyer’s office is frequent. These men spend three to four hours in the vicinity. Ms. Lopez does highly sensitive work advocating for victims and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has granted her organization several injunctions and security measures.

The Colombian Attorney General’s office should explain and clarify the charges against Lopez. The Protection Unit must provide protection to Lopez and fully enforce the injunctions and security measures recommended by the IACHR.