Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
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1781, the Plaintiffs in the above-captioned ATS cases request the issuance of a Letter of
Request for International Judicial Assistance (Letter of Request) for the production of
documents created by and in the custody of three agencies of the Republic Colombia.
Counsel for the Defendant, Chiquita Brands, and for several Individual Defendants,
consent to the Motion. Counsel for other plaintiff groups were sent these letters on June
27 and again yesterday, June 7, 2017, but none responded. The other plaintiffs' counsel
The United States and Colombia are parties to the Hague Evidence Convention.
28 U.S.C. 1781. Because the documents requested herein are located in a foreign
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country and their custodians are not subject to the Courts in personam jurisdiction,
issuance of a Letter of Request is the proper means to ask for these materials. See, e.g., In
re Anschuetz & Co., GMbH, 754 F.2d 602, 615 (5th Cir. 1985); Restatement (Third) of
The proposed Letter of Request, following the model form set out in the Hague
of the Defendants and the ATA Plaintiffs, made on November 6, 2015, D.E. 927, which
was for documents regarding the Defendants' alleged financing of the Fuerzas Armadas
The instant Letter of Request seeks records for undersigned counsel's eight (8)
bellwether cases, from three Colombian agencies involved in war crimes tribunals and
reparations: the Comisin de Justicia y Paz (Commission of Justice and Peace), Accion
Social (Social Action), and the Unidad para la Atencin y Reparacin Integral a las
Vctimas (Unit for the Attention and Integral Reparation of Victims). The requests are
narrowly tailored to these specific cases so that they will not impose an undue burden on
Of these eight bellwether cases, four of the files have correspondence with the
Comisin de Justicia y Paz, and four have correspondence with Accion Social. None
have correspondence with the Unidad para la Atencin y Reparacin Integral a las
Vctimas. However, the Defendant has requested this material from the Plaintiffs in
discovery, including the Registro nico de Vctimas (Unique Victim Registry), which is
the eight test cases. The Comission of Justice and Peace is a war crimes tribunal, in
the eight cases have proceedings either underway, or that have been resolved by this
court. The Plaintffs should win these cases in summary judgment, unless the Defendant
can find some issue in the confession of the murder. It is Plaintiffs' hope that at some
future time, all of the confessed cases can be decided in Plaintiffs' favor without trials.
Accion Social and the Unidad para la Atencin y Reparacin Integral a las
Vctimas are agencies that determine whether individuals qualify as victims of war
crimes, and provide financial benefits to recognized victims. Four of the eight cases have
Reparacin Integral a las Vctimas were requested by Chiquita Brands from the Plaintiffs
in discovery, although none of the Plaintiffs have corresponded with this agency.
Paragraph 13 of the Letter asks the Colombian government to treat the Annex of
Plaintiff and Decedent names and cedula numbers as Highly Confidential, pursuant to the
Protective Order. Another important change is in Paragraph 15, in which the Court
requests that a legal proceeding be opened in Colombia to supervise the handling of this
request, with counsel for the parties to appear before a Colombian judge. It will be
comparable to what we would do with a Hague Request pursuant to 28 USC 1782. The
purpose of this proceeding is to define the scope of relevant testimony and make sure it
to half of these eight murders, and perhaps more. Without a Colombian judge to
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supervise the production of these records, the result might be the same as what the ATA
Since no other counsel have expressed any interest in this, I'm willing to
undertake all it myself and pay the costs. I anticipate that this Letter of Request will only
be the first of two, with a second request made early in 2018 to take depositions of the
persons who confessed to the murders, if they are in Colombia. (some important
paramilitaries are imprisoned in the U.S.) The identities of these individuals are not
Conclusion
For the foregoing reasons, the Plaintiffs' request that this Court issue the attached
Letter of Request under the Hague Evidence Convention to the Republic of Colombia.
Separately, the Plaintiffs will move the Court to file the Highly Confidential Annex of
Respectfully submitted,
July 8, 2017
Certificate of Service
I hereby certify that on this 8th of July, 2017, I filed the foregoing Motion, along
with its two Exhibits and Proposed Order, using the Court's CM/ECF electronic case-
filing system, which will send notices by email to all parties entitled to receive them.
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