Ambos, Kai (Coord.) AA.VV. Transitional justice and constitution: analysis of Constitutional Court ruling C-579 of 2013.

Abstract

On June 14, 2012, in the development of what the government called exploratory dialogues with the guerrilla, the Congress of the Republic approved the (Legislative Act) or Legal Framework for Peace (MJP), which within the scope of Article 22 of the National Constitution, establishes the legal basis for the future investigation, prosecution and punishment of acts committed by members of organized armed groups outside the law, who have been part of the internal armed conflict in relation to those acts committed in connection with it. This Act authorizes the creation of judicial or extrajudicial mechanisms of transitional justice by means of a Statutory Law, establishes criteria for the selection of cases and prioritization of criminal action, sets limits for the "application of extrajudicial sanctions, alternative sentences, or special modalities of execution and enforcement of the sentence"; and also authorizes "the conditional waiver of criminal prosecution of all unselected cases" (art. 1, para. 4). All this, with the purpose of facilitating the termination of the internal armed conflict and the achievement of a stable and lasting peace (art. 1° inc. 1°).