Death Threats Against Colombian Human Rights Lawyer Germán Romero

Germán Romero Sánchez

UN Human Rights Experts[1] sent a letter to the government of Colombia, expressing their concerns about the death threats and acts of intimidation committed against the lawyer and human rights defender Mr. Germán Romero Sánchez, a member of the Network of Human Rights Defenders (DHColombia).

Over the course of 2023, Romero received phone calls from unknown people threatening him and his family, specifically his minor daughters. He was followed and monitored and harassed on the street through direct threats to his physical integrity.

UN experts had sent letters to the Colombian government about German Romero's risk situation in 2019 and 2012. After years of threats and actions against his daughters, German left the country with his family in 2021 before returning to Colombia at the end of 2022.

The threats come as Romero investigates members of the national police for their alleged role in killings that occurred in Bogotá during the September 2020 protests.

The Special Procedures asked the Government of Colombia to provide information on the investigations into the threats as well as on the protection measures provided to German Romero and his family. The Colombian government responded by explaining that the events are being investigated by the Directorate of International Affairs of the Attorney General's Office. In addition, it clarifies that Romero "has been a beneficiary of [protection] measures since 2013."

Germán Romero Sánchez with PBI field volunteers

Germán Romero Sánchez is a lawyer and human rights defender, well recognized for his legal representation of victims of serious human rights violations and other crimes perpetrated primarily by state security forces. He has represented victims in emblematic judicial processes in which the responsibility of Colombia's high-ranking military commanders has been investigated, and some that have been brought before the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP). Romero is a beneficiary of precautionary measures granted by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).

[1] Mandates of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders; the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers and the Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence