Public complaint

On Thursday 14 August the young conscientious objector, JOSÍAS JOHAN PATIÑO was on his way to work. Around 7 a.m. he was at the Aguacatala station when, under orders from Captain Barrera, members of the national army, Sergeant Peña and auxiliary prison guard Gutierrez from the 6th Division, twenty seventh brigade in the Department of Putumayo, stormed the Aguacatala metro station. They asked for and withheld the identity card of the young man mentioned as a way of coercing him to climb into the truck which the army uses for recruiting young men by force i.e. rather than issuing the appropriate summons to resolve his military situation as law 48 of 1993 states.

JOSÍAS JOHAN PATIÑO was recruited by force by CAPTAIN BARRERA, SARGENT PEÑA and the auxiliary prison guard GUTIÉRREZ. This action falls under the punishable conduct of arbitrary detention and ignores the order by the Constitutional Court in sentence C-879 of 2011, where it says that "no young person can be forced to get in the truck, or be recruited by force. i.e. no young person can be driven to barracks or military districts, be detained by authorities for long periods of time, or obliged to undergo examinations. Neither can they be forced to join the ranks". It also violates article 28 of the C.N. which says: "Everyone is free. No one can bother his person or family, nor imprison or arrest him, nor detain him, or his registered address, without written documentation from a competent authority, following legal formalities and for reasons previously defined in law"...

A few days ago JOSÍAS JOHAN PATIÑO was trying to resolve his military situation, and was going through the necessary steps, including undergoing a medical examination which was carried out in the Buenos Aires battalion in the city of Medellín. The examination declared him unfit for compulsory military service since it revealed a problem of varicocele. For unknown reasons they have withheld the results of that examination. This prevents him from making any claim relating to the examination and it is also in violation of the due process, which then denies him any possibility of being able to defend himself on health grounds which determine whether he is suitable or not for serving compulsory military service.

They blatantly violated fundamental rights to freedom of worship and conscience as recorded in articles 18 and 19 of the C.N. and the right to conscious objection to the compulsory military service, which is a fundamental right according to the statement C-728 of 2009. They didn’t take into account the concept of the UN’s working group on arbitrary detention in its opinion No 8/2008 (Colombia), which declares the practice which was carried out as a form of arbitrary detention, as is the recruitment of conscientious objectors.

The young JOSÍAS JOHAN PATIÑO is currently in artillery battalion # 27 (jungle Monterrico - Balot, annexed to Bajes) Puerto Asis of the seventh Division commanded by Sergeant Quintero. The young man said on several occasions that the compulsory military service and everything about it was against his principles, thus all the time he was held by force by the fourth brigade and Bomboná battalion, he was pushed around and on the plane they put him between auxiliary prison guards, he was subjected to mockery, and they stole his underwear.

I ask you to show your solidarity with him and his family, since those who care for his mother don’t have the economic or logistical resources to meet their needs. It is therefore necessary to send the following via a church or organization close to the battalion, underwear, a blanket, a Bible, shirts and trousers (he says that they will not provide a uniform and he only has two shirts and one pair of trousers).

Please provide support through prayer and help to provide for advocacy work. A writ of protection of constitutional rights has already been applied for. An interim measure was requested to not move him to Putumayo while the judge made his pronouncement, but the military did not take this into consideration.

Translated by Ruby Starheart