The Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) declared the extradition from Colombia of Gabriel José Carrillo Delgado, who is accused of committing a murder in 2016 and burying the victim in an improvised grave, admissible. Such a decision is reflected in sentence 718 published on November 14 with the signature of the three magistrates who are members of the Criminal Chamber: Elsa Gómez, Carmen Marisela Castro and Maikel Moreno (speaker).
In that sentence it is clarified that Carrillo Delgado was captured in Santa Marta, Colombia, on September 17. As a result of this arrest, the Public Ministry activated the extradition process, with the purpose of trying Carrillo Delgado in Venezuelan territory for the crime of intentional homicide to the detriment of Xavier Otto Palmar Palmar, a 42-year-old oil engineer.
The aforementioned crime was allegedly committed by Carrillo Delgado along with his brother Germán Carrillo and Brando Barrios, in Maracaibo (Zulia). In fact, Palmar’s disappearance was reported by his mother to the National Anti-Extortion and Kidnapping Command (Conas) located in the capital of Zulia. There he said that he had not heard anything about his son since March 28, 2016. He also informed them that Xavier’s personal documents were found by a person in the vicinity of the El Carmelo neighborhood.
Following that first discovery, Conas officials found the missing man’s truck, which was in the hands of the Carrillo brothers.
In the course of the investigations, the Cicpc joined in, whose agents interviewed a person who reported that engineer Palmar was murdered with blunt objects hit by Brando Barrios. And then they buried the body in the patio of the Carrillos’ mother’s home, located in the Los Olivos neighborhood, 69th Street, house No. 63-109, Caracciolo Parra Pérez Parish, Maracaibo municipality, Zulia.
The year after this murder was committed, specifically on March 21, 2017, Cicpc agents proceeded to unearth the skeletal remains corresponding to Xavier Palmar Palmar. For this reason, Prosecutor’s Office 4 of the Public Ministry requested an arrest warrant for Gabriel José Carrillo Delgado, which was granted on April 1, 2017 by the Control Court 12 of Zulia, the sentence describes.
Eight years after that arrest warrant was issued, Colombian police authorities captured Carrillo Delgado and reported the fact to Venezuela. That is why on September 22, the 22nd Control Court of Zulia agreed to begin the extradition procedure for Carrillo Delgado and sent the file to the Criminal Chamber of the TSJ.
The magistrates reviewed the file and verified that the requirements set out in the extradition treaty signed by Colombia and Venezuela were met. One of these requirements is the existence of an arrest warrant from Venezuela, in this case, of the defendant. In this regard, the magistrates confirmed that this order exists and was supported in the minutes drawn up by both the Conas and the Cicpc.
Likewise, the magistrates verified that the crime for which Carrillo Delgado will be tried in Venezuela is not of a political nature, an issue that would stop the subject’s extradition, because it is prohibited by the treaty invoked by the Criminal Chamber.
Upon analyzing this and other elements, the magistrates declared the extradition request admissible.
The commitment
By declaring the extradition of Gabriel José Carrillo Delgado admissible, the Criminal Chamber stated in the ruling that, on behalf of the Venezuelan State, it assumes before the Government of Colombia “the firm commitment that the citizen (…) will be subject to criminal proceedings for the alleged commission of the crime of intentional homicide, to the detriment of the person who in life responded to the name of Xavier Otto Palmar Palmar; with the due guarantees enshrined in the Constitution…”. One of these guarantees is the prohibition of holding a trial in the absence of the accused. They also guarantee due process (article 49 of the Magna Carta) which prohibits the forced disappearance of people criminally prosecuted.
