• The Office of the Attorney General clarified the femicide of Yuri Andrea Bolaños and his mother in Nariño.
  • Arrests warrants were carried out by the Office of the Attorney General against a radio host and a photographer for violence against women.

One of the prioritized objectives of the Office of the Attorney General is to protect the lives and integrity of women in Colombia, as established by the Attorney General Francisco Barbosa Delgado, in his Strategic Direction 2020-2024.

The Office of the Attorney General achieved three important results in La Unión (Nariño), Bogotá and Barranquilla (Atlántico) to counteract gender-based violence, as follows:

Clarification of femicide in Nariño

A prosecutor appointed to the Sectional Office in Nariño clarified the feminicide of Yuri Andrea Bolaños Botina, which took place on January 3 in the municipality La Unión. After approving the request of the Prosecutor´s Office, a supervisory judge imposed a prison term against the alleged perpetrator of the crime.

The alleged responsible for the crimes of aggravated femicide, aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder and manufacture, trafficking, possession of firearms was identified as Michel Jackson Hermosa Rivera. He did not plead guilty to the charges.

The evidence collected by investigators and experts coordinated by a prosecutor of  La Unión (Nariño) made it possible to prove that Hermosa Rivera had murdered her former partner, Yuri Andrea Bolaños Botina; her mother, María Botina Ordóñez and that he allegedly made an attempt on David Cuarán Toro´s life.

The victims were traveling on a motorcycle when they were allegedly fired from a bush by Hermosa Rivera. Later, the two women were given a coup de grace by the alleged aggressor. The man who was driving the vehicle survived and his testimony allowed the clarification of facts.

The investigation determined that Yuri Andrea had a sentimental relationship with the defendant for two years, in which she suffered continuous abuse, humiliation, attacks and offenses due to jealousy.

Photographer arrested due to violent sexual assault

In the last hours, members of the Technical Investigative Corps (Cuerpo Técnico de Investigación CTI) arrested in the city of Bogotá a photographer who was denounced by a colleague through the media for alleged sexual assault.

The Office of the Attorney General will bring him before justice for the respective prosecution for the commission of aggravated sexual assault with a person “unconscious of the nature of the act” which means incapable of resisting.

According to the victim’s testimony, the man gave her a substance that made her lose consciousness, a situation in which he allegedly took advantage to sexually abuse her.

Arrest due to domestic violence

A radio host will be brought before a judge in Barranquilla (Atlántico) for the crime of aggravated domestic violence. It is believed that the man attacked his former partner in a public establishment in La Soledad (Atlántico).

The woman was attacked on February 28 and the incident was recorded by a security camera in the place where she was.

Due to the denounce made by the victim, a prosecutor specialized in issues related to violence against women, began the investigation with a gender perspective.

The evidence collected so far, shows that the woman has been physically and verbally abused on several occasions.

Gender-based violence balance

  • Femicide

In this last year, the institution achieved a 95.26% in clarification of femicides. In 2020, 186 victims of this crime were reported and for the same period, between January 1st and December 31st in 2019, 230 victims were registered, which represented a decrease of 19.13%.

To date, the Prosecutor’s Office has obtained 452 convictions since femicide was considered in mid-2015 as a criminal offense.

So far in 2021, 37 cases of femicide have been reported, in which there is a 78% of progress in their clarification.

  • Domestic violence

It was identified that domestic violence is the second most denounced behavior in the country, after robbery. In 2020 there was an increase of 5,411 cases compared to 2019, going from 88,859 in 2019 to 94,270 in 2020, which represents an increase of 6%. Despite the restrictions due to the pandemic, 3,733 convictions were obtained last year.

  • Sexual violence

On the other hand, concerning sexual crimes, in 2020 there were 30,579 cases, while in 2019 there were 38,697, which represents a significant decrease. However, between January 1 and February 28, 2021, 3,877 cases were reported; an increase of 16 cases compared to the same period in 2020. In this regard, children and adolescents continue being the most vulnerable population.

Mechanisms to denounce

The Office of the Attorney General has mechanisms to denounce the 24 hours in order to activate priority attention protocols and identify those allegedly responsible for crimes against women. These cases can be denounced online through the so-called ADenunciar platform, as well as line 122, national toll-free number 018000 919748 and phone number 57 (1) 5702000 option (# 7) in Bogotá.

The Office of the Attorney General makes this information public for reasons of general interest.

When we speak, results follow.

The information contained in this press release corresponds to the narration of the objective news provided by the officials in charge of carrying out the criminal investigations within the Office of the Attorney General. By the time this communication is disclosed, the legal status of the people mentioned is still pending to be resolved by the competent judicial authority, always under the presumption of innocence contemplated by Article 29 of the Political Constitution and Article 7 of Law 906 of 2004.