Colombia's JEP hears victim pleas on political murders and collective party grievances

During a July 2025 audience, victims linked to the JEP Subcase Gran Magdalena asked the Special Jurisdiction for Peace to reopen the investigation of the 2002 killing of Roque Morelli, former dean of the Universidad del Magdalena. They urged the tribunal to summon former paramilitary commander José Gregorio Rojas Mendoza, alias “Yoyo,” whose public statements claim responsibility for the crime and implicate former rector Carlos Caicedo. The magistrates pledged to speed up the process to hear the former commander’s testimony.

In a related set of hearings, the Communist Party of Colombia (PCC) and the Union Patriótica presented observations on the JEP’s macro‑case 06, labeled “Genocide against the Union Patriótica,” and on the subcase concerning Military Intelligence. They stressed that these parties constitute collective political victims of state‑linked violence and called for reinforced protection and accountability for crimes committed by the armed forces and paramilitary groups.