Human rights violations in South America: 'Through my words and poetry, I can transcend these prison walls'

David Rabelo Crespo is a human rights defender in Colombia, targeted because he challenged the climate of impunity that prevails in the country, and which has led to thousands of deaths. He is an innocent man, serving an 18-year prison sentence on the basis of trumped up charges, following a trial that can only be described as a legal charade.

One of the main reasons for my visit is that the Front Line Defenders, the International Foundation for the Protection of Human Rights defenders, sees David's case as emblematic of many of the issues confronting human rights defenders in Colombia - threats, criminalisation, denial of justice, and collusion on the part of many state agencies.

David has been targeted, by the legal system, for specific reasons. He has consistently and vociferously spoken out about the links between the government of president Uribe and paramilitary groups. He has refused to be silent. He has refused to leave his native province of Barrancabermeja, and above all else, because he has refused to allow himself to be killed.

Violation of legal guarantees

David has been detained since 14 September 2010, when he was accused of an aggravated homicide committed in 1991. In any trial of such national sensitivity it is of fundamental importance that certain legal guarantees relating to due process and the right to a fair trial are respected. Yet these guarantees have been repeatedly violated during the legal process against David.

The two key prosecution witnesses had themselves previously been given jail terms because of their involvement in massacres and other human rights abuses. In fact they had been given a reduced sentence as a reward for their evidence against David.

The prosecutor, William Pacheco Granados of Colombia's National Counter Terrorism Unit, was removed from a previous post due to his alleged involvement in the disappearance of William Hurtado Parra in Armenia in 1991. Should this have automatically precluded his involvement in the case?

Additionally, the defence was frequently prevented from presenting evidence which would have undermined the case against David, while the prosecution were routinely allowed to present evidence which should have been excluded.

David has campaigned for human rights for more than 30 years and has become the voice of human rights in the Barrancabermeja province. It is apparent that the trial against David had one clear goal - to silence him. This it has failed to do.

In Bogotá we met Reynaldo Villalba Vargas, David's lawyer and a member of the 'Jose Alvear Restrepo' lawyers' collective, before heading towards La Picota Prison. After going through the laborious process of pre-approval, approval, questioning of the approval, and then final approval, we were granted security passes.

David greeted us with a beaming smile and an affectionate hug. He set out some plastic chairs and offered us a cup of coffee. Whether it was a member of staff or another inmate who brought us the coffee was hard to tell, with everyone wearing normal street clothes; it was almost possible to forget that the setting for our meeting was indeed a prison.

Despite the 18-year sentence, the array of irregularities prior to and during legal proceedings, and the fact that all domestic legal channels have now been exhausted, David is a remarkably positive man whose strength of character is demonstrated by his confidence and personal warmth.

He showed us the business cards left by various MEPs and EU officials who had visited him. Giving him my own card I assured him that I would follow up with these European colleagues on his case after I left.

David outlined three requests that he wanted me to make on his behalf in our upcoming meetings with the Presidential Programme on Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law, the attorney general, and the ministry of the interior:

• He would like to be transferred from Bogotá to a prison in Barrancabermeja where he can be closer to his family, including a young daughter he has never met;

• He believes an investigation unit should be established to look into the use of false testimonies in trials, not just in his own case but in all cases where this common practice has been used; and

• He would like guarantees that due process and justice will be applied in the criminal cases against the prosecutor Pacheco, for his involvement in a forced disappearance, and against Mario Jaimes Mejía, alias 'El Panadero', for providing false testimony against him.

After about an hour together we said our goodbyes. With another warm hug and a handshake we headed back to the city, as David returned to his prison cell that he shares with a judge who has been convicted on bribery charges.

The power of words

The following day, in our meeting with attorney general Eduardo Montealegre Lynett, he wrapped up proceedings by expressing his love of Irish literature. It seemed natural to highlight the important lessons we can learn from the persecution of Joyce and Wilde.

Across the globe, great minds and voices continue to face oppression, criminalisation, and levels of danger that force them to leave their home or even their country, either temporarily or permanently. This brought to mind David's own words: 'It's not sad... What they have done to me is very painful, but in here, through my words and poetry, I can transcend these prison walls.'

As I reflect on my closing chat with the attorney general, and the fact that we had brought David Spanish-language copies of Joyce's Dubliners, and a book of Seamus Heaney's poems, I am conscious of the vastly different lives and worlds of two men with a shared love for the power of words.

Photo from left to right: David Rabelo Crespo Jnr, Caitriona Rice, Eamon Gilmore, Reynaldo Villalba Vargas

Eamon Gilmore is the former deputy prime minister, minister for foreign affairs and trade, and leader of the Labour party in Ireland. He led Ireland’s successful presidency of the European Union, was president of the EU’s general affairs council, and was chairperson-in-office of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.

Front Line Defenders is the International Foundation for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, founded in Dublin in 2001 with the aim of protecting human rights defenders at risk @FrontLineHRD