Effect given to the recommendations of the committee and the Governing Body - Report No 348, November 2007

Effect given to the recommendations of the Committee and the Governing Body

1. 113. At its June 2007 meeting, the Committee made the following recommendations on the issues still pending [see 346th Report, para. 1097]:
   • (a) The Committee deplores the seriousness of the alleged events, which include the burglary of the CUSG headquarters and the theft of trade union property and documents, subsequent threatening phone calls to the trade unionist Carlos Humberto Carballo Cabrera, as well as the limited investigations carried out by the authorities.
   • (b) The Committee urges the Government to take the necessary measures immediately to reactivate and intensify the police and Public Prosecutor investigations into the alleged offences.
   • (c) The Committee firmly expects that the new investigations requested of the authorities will enable them to determine the motives behind the offences, to identify those responsible and punish them severely, and to make it possible to recover the stolen property. The Committee also requests the Government to guarantee the security of the trade unionists. It requests the Government to keep it informed on the progress of the investigations and any judicial decision which is handed down.
2. 114. In its communication of 4 May 2007, the Government states that it was informed by the Office of the Special Public Prosecutor for Offences against Journalists and Trade Unionists of the Public Prosecutor’s Office that crime scene experts from the National Civil Police and the Public Prosecutor’s Office visited the scene of the crime and stated in their reports that “fragments of latent prints were observed, but they lacked the necessary general and specific characteristics for identification through a comparative study”. The Office of the Special Public Prosecutor received the complaint and subsequently the report from the National Civil Police investigators stating that no one had been found at the premises where the offence was committed and that, to date, none of those affected have come forward to the Office of the Special Public Prosecutor, even though the investigation is still under way.
3. 115. The Committee takes note of this information and notes with regret that, although the burglary of the CUSG headquarters and the theft of trade union property and documents took place on 6 April 2006 [see 346th Report, para. 1084], the investigations have not yet revealed the identity of the perpetrators. The Committee firmly expects that all the necessary measures will be taken to add impetus to the investigations in order to identify and punish without delay those responsible for the burglary and the theft of property and documents and for the threatening phone calls to the trade unionist Mr Carlos Humberto Carballo Cabrera. The Committee requests the Government to keep it informed in this regard and hopes that the investigations will enable the CUSG to retrieve its stolen documents and property.