Family reported delays in the case of disappearance and homicide of former director of the Cordoba Regalia

March 27, 2014 marks eight years since the disappearance and death of the former director of the Cordoba Regalia, Jairo Zapa Pérez. His family, almost a decade after his death, is still in search of justice, however, it has not been possible to achieve it. They argue that so far there is only one person captured and sentenced to pay 23 years in prison, a man identified as Joycer Hernández. That man, they emphasize, has not been a participant in the process to ensure the clarification of the facts.

The father of the former official, Fausto Zapa, spoke of the complex situation that he and his family are experiencing in the absence of answers. “We observe with great regret the existence of people with minds, hearts and intestines invaded by savagery and cruelty. They, intellectual culprits, surely with many political, economic and even military powers; not satisfied with what they did to our wonderful family member, they also lashed out with our family; threatening us, intimidating us, violating our home to the point of forcing us to flee our land; becoming displaced and exiled, away from family, friends, our people, customs, culture and environment,” he stressed in his note.

In the same note, delivered to public opinion, he stressed that “the most serious thing is that these dark characters with great power have probably influenced the administration of justice at the level of the First Criminal Court of the Specialized Circuit of Monteria and the Superior Court of the Judicial District of Monteria in which is developing too slowly. Friends and family affected by the Zapa Pérez case, we do not understand why it has been stuck in that court since May last year until today. What will be the powerful reasons why your officials, after ten (10) months, have not sufficiently studied and analyzed this case? We request that he be sent to the Court soon, so that the Court proceeds to continue the Judgment.”

According to what he argues, there have been four stalemates that have occurred in the Chamber of Conjudges that have not allowed the case to be resolved in its entirety. For example, you specify, processes that can be performed from days to whole months have been delayed. He explained that, for example, in May 2021, the oral trial was suspended for the third time. The arguments submitted for this order fell to the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation. That body lodged a complaint, after it had not been granted an appeal to challenge the credibility of the first witness questioned in the case. This is summarized in the fact that the version she delivered at the hearing did not match the one delivered first.

“Enough of so much delay! We demand prompt justice that allows us to know all the truth they are trying to hide in the Zapa Pérez Case,” Fausto Zapa emphasized in the note.

It should be remembered that Jairo Alberto's body was found on August 6, 2014 with signs of strangulation in the rural area of Pueblo Nuevo. Jairo had started working for the governorate in 2012. He initially served as an advisor and was later chosen as director of royalties for the department of Córdoba.

“Jairo went into work happily (...) for him it was quite a challenge because the office had to create it, he was so happy that he studied super judiciously, read all the rules, read the department's development plans, the competitiveness agenda, the entire plan Alejandro Lyons had for the governorate,” commented his wife María Isabel, in testimonies collected by the portal of Las 2 Orillas.

By 2017, the only person arrested in the case claimed that the man's body had buried the estate of former governor Alejandro Lyons Muskus's father, under the idea of former contractor Jesús Henao Sarmiento. The idea was to pressure the departmental president not to take away his contracts. He said that in those days, Jesús Henao Sarmiento would be the mastermind of the murder of Zapa Pérez. For committing the crime, I would have offered him 600 million pesos.

Keep reading: