STRUCTURE OF THE CRIMINAL

PROCEDURE
The Political Constitution of Colombia,
through Legislative Act 03 of 2002, in its
articles 250 and 251, granted the Attorney
General's Office a new leading role in an
accusatory criminal process, by entrusting
it to "advance the exercise of criminal
action and carry out the investigation of the
facts
structure of the criminal process
that bear the characteristics of a crime that
comes to their knowledge through a
complaint, special request, complaint or ex
officio…” (art. 250, inc. 1st.). In
development of this general jurisdiction
clause, the Political Constitution
established a new procedural structure in
Colombia, in which the prosecutor
The criminal process
must present an accusation before the
judges of knowledge, in order to “begin a
public, oral trial, with immediate of the
evidence,
contradictory, concentrated and with all
guarantees” (art. 250, no. 4th).
The criminal process
With Law 906 of 2004 (Code of Criminal
Procedure), the legislative development of
accusatory postulates within criminal
proceedings begins. We then have in
Colombia a new criminal process that has
two basic stages: “…Inquiry-investigation
and criminal trial…” (art. 250, par.).
The criminal process
Thus, we can speak of two (2) well-defined
stages or phases of the process: 1. Research
of which the investigation phase is also part
2. Oral trial.
1. Linked to the notion of the rule of
law, which contains two basic elements
of the criminal process:
• Effective realization of justice
without prejudice to the
fundamental rights of the accused.
 Characteristics
Separation of functions in the
punitive exercise.
2. Guarantee and balanced system to
the extent that they are clearly
separated the functions of
investigation and accusation.
_ Characteristics

“ He who accuses does not judge”

aphorism that surrounds the judge
of knowledge of impartiality to
resolve the criminal accusation.
3. The criminal process continues to
be an activity headed by the State,
with relevance to the principle of
legality of the action and evidence.
Characteristics
4. The investigation constitutes an
activity that prepares the oral trial and
provides the necessary material for the
contradiction to operate. Therefore the
principle of immediacy is effective.
Characteristics
5. The ritual forms that the procedure
must observe are orality and
advertising.
6. The adversarial system is one more
piece of criminal policy (NORMATIVE
.

STRATEGIES TO CONFRONT PHENOMENA OF SOCIAL HARM).

 Characteristics
7. It is an adversarial or party system
where the principle of equality of arms is
established: Equality of
opportunities to collect evidence and for
the defense to have access to the
technical means of investigation
available to the State. (ART. 204 CPP
)
characteristics
Thus, the actors are contenders who
face before an impartial judge in a
debate to which both must enter with
the same tools of attack and protection.
 PARTIES AND PARTICIPANTS IN THE
CRIMINAL PROCEDURE
They are parts in the process:
1. Attorney General's Office.
2. The defense.
3. The accused.
1. ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE NATION
1. It is part of the judicial branch.
2. Carry out criminal action and
investigate facts that have the
characteristics of a crime.
3. Accusatory function.
4. Ensures the protection of victims,
witnesses and experts.
 2. THE DEFENSE
1. It is made up of the accused and his
attorney.
2. The accused has the right to choose
his lawyer or to have one provided by
the State.
3. The exercise of the right to defense
arises from the moment one has
Defending
knowledge that carries out a process
against a person and will only end when
said process ends.
process.
4. Timely information about the
investigation and accusation, in order
to prepare the defense.
 Defending
5. Right to present evidence and to
dispute that presented by the
accusing party.
6. Once the appointment of the
defender is accepted, he or she may
act without any formality for
recognition.
 3. THE ACCUSED
This quality is acquired:
1. Since the capture or
2. From the link to the action through
the formulation of imputation.
 IDENTIFICATION 0
INDIVIDUALIZATION OF THE ACCUSED
It corresponds to the Attorney General's
Office, in order to avoid judicial errors.
When the captured person does not present
an identity document :
The judicial police take the ten-print record
and verify the identity directly with
documents
obtained from the National Registry
 ID
of the Civil Status or through technical or
technological means at your disposal or to
which you have access.
If the identity is not verified immediately
will send the record
ten-print to the Registry Office, so that a
copy of the photo ID is issued within a
period of no more than 24 hours.
ID
If the person does not appear in the files of
the National Registry of Civil Status,
exceptionally and only once, they will be
registered with the name that was initially
identified and assigned a numerical quota.
Once this is done, the Registry must
inform the authority that requested it.
(Art. 128 CPP)
Participants in the criminal process
1. The Victims.
2. The Public Ministry .
1. The Victims

Definition : They are the people

natural or legal persons and other
subjects of rights who individually or
collectively have suffered some
damage as a result of the unjust act.
Victims
In order to implement the SPA, a
concept such as restorative justice was
coined for the first time.
As a novelty, then, Law 906 of 2004
enshrines in its article 11 specific rights
of victims and establishes specific
mechanisms for restorative justice.
 Victims

rativa (arts,510 and ss).

The jurisprudence of the Constitutional
Court has distinguished between victims
and injured parties:
The victim is the passive subject of the
punishable act or the owner of the legal
asset that the law protects.
The injured

They are those whose interests are

directly affected by the punishable
conduct, even if it is not property
damage.
The victims and those harmed by the
crime that occur are entitled to the
rights to justice, truth and reparation.
would have suffered real, concrete
and specific damage, whatever its
nature.
RIGHT TO ACCESS THE TRUTH:
implies that people
They have the right to know what
really happened in their case. The
human dignity of a person is
Victims
is affected if she is deprived of
information that is vital to her. Access to
the truth thus appears closely linked to
respect for human dignity, the memory
and image of the victim.
RIGHT TO JUSTICE BE DONE: that
there is no impunity for the situation
that led to that situation due to
Victims
adequately investigate and punish the
perpetrators and participants in the
crimes, the right of victims to an
effective judicial remedy and the duty to
respect the rules of due process in all
trials.
 Victims
RIGHT TO REPAIR:
It involves the adoption of all necessary
measures aimed at making the effects of
the violations committed disappear, at
returning the victim to the state in which
he or she was before the violation. This
repair can be from an individual or
collective dimension.
_ Victims

In the individual dimension :

■ Restitution.
■ Compensation.
■ Rehabilitation.
■ Satisfaction.
■ Guarantee of non-repetition.
…
In the collective dimension :
■ Satisfaction measures of general
scope aimed at:
■ Restore.
■ Indemnify.
■ Readapt.
Rights of the collectivities or
communities affected by the events.
2. THE PUBLIC MINISTRY

Its function is to protect constitutionality

and legality within the process.
Intervention in criminal proceedings is
discretionary, when necessary in defense
of the legal order, public assets or
fundamental rights and guarantees.
His absence does not vitiate the
proceedings.
Its intervention has been limited in
order to safeguard the principle of
equality of arms and the system of
parties .
PHASES OF THE CRIMINAL PROCEDURE
COLOMBIAN
The accusatory criminal process has two
clearly defined stages:
1. Research stage, of which the
investigation phase is also a part.
2. Judgment stage.
Inquiry stage
Definition.
The investigation is a phase in which the
Attorney General's Office, through the
judicial police, finds out about the facts
that have the characteristics of a crime
and that have come to its knowledge
through a complaint, complaint, special
request, report of
judicial police or by any other suitable
means.
For a fact to be characterized as a crime,
objective verification budgets must be
presented by the prosecutor: Active
subject, typical action and punishable
result.
The investigation phase is reserved and is
characterized by high evidentiary
uncertainty, cleared only by the data
provided by the criminal news.
The Judicial Police, upon receiving
criminal news through a complaint,
complaint, special request, or
unofficially, must make the initiation
report immediately and by the most
appropriate means.
…
Expedited communication with the
prosecutor, who will assume the
coordination, direction and legal control
of the case.
Inquiry
Actions of the judicial police under
investigation.
The law authorizes the judicial police
(where there is no judicial police, there is
a national police) to receive criminal
news and immediately carry out all
Inquiry
urgent acts, such as inspection of the
scene, inspection of the corpse,
interviews and interrogations that will be
recorded in a magnetic and/or phonoptic
recording or in writing. Likewise, the
identification, collection, and technical
packaging of material elements
corresponds.
Inquiry
probative and physical evidence to
submit them to chain of custody.
Accompaniment or transfer of the victim
to carry out a legal medical examination
when possible.
The judicial police must present urgent
acts within 36 hours.
Inquiry
following an executive report to the
prosecutor, who will assume the
direction, coordination and control of the
investigation. (art.205 cpp).
The prosecutor with the support of the
judicial police will trace he
program
methodological research aimed at
specifying the objectives of the
Inquiry
criminal hypothesis; evaluate the
information received; define and assign
tasks; establish control procedures for
carrying out improvement tasks and
resources to advance the mission and
determine the activities that require
control
judicial, among other aspects that in the
Inquiry
future they will be necessary to prepare
and develop the theory of the case, in the
event of an eventual accusation. Order
the carrying out of investigative acts that
do not imply restriction of fundamental
rights and that are conducive to the
clarification of the facts that are the
subject of the investigation.
Methodological program
Teamwork is planned, determined,
controlled and developed through the
methodological program , which is a
work tool that allows organizing and
explaining the investigation, in order to
identify the cognitive means to
demonstrate, beyond a reasonable doubt,
the occurrence. of the crime and the
responsibility of its author
the methodological program must be
flexible, as it must be adjusted as the
research progresses; serves as an
expeditious means to monitor the
relevance and effectiveness of assigned
tasks; It must be the thread that links
each aspect of the criminal hypothesis;
allows understanding of the case;
helps to permanently evaluate research
work; It facilitates the intervention of the
prosecutor as a procedural party in the
different preliminary hearings and in the
trial, and allows for a comprehensive view
of the case.
…
The evidentiary material elements or
physical evidence that the judicial police
find in compliance with the urgent acts
and in the development of the
methodological program must be
identified, fixed, packaged and sent to the
evidence warehouse or to the laboratory,
as the case may be, with observation of
the protocols arranged for the chain of
custody, preserving its originality,
identity and indemnity, that is, it is
reliable, to thus guarantee the principle
of authenticity.
The activities carried out by the judicial
police in the development of the
methodological program that imply
infringement of fundamental rights and
guarantees may only be carried out with
prior authorization from the guarantee
control judge, at the request of the
prosecutor.
In cases of extreme urgency the police
causal
The court may directly request
authorization from the judge. The
prosecutor will be informed (art. 26 cpp).
1. Body inspection (C-822 of August 10,
2005)-art.247.
2. Personal record (C-789/2006)-
art.248 cpp)
Prior authorization
3. Obtaining samples that involve the
accused- Art.249.
LIMITS AND TERMS OF THE INQUIRY . This
phase begins with the criminal report
and extends until any of these two
decisions is adopted:
1. The formulation of the accusation, a
case in which the subsequent stage,
which is the investigation, takes place
(Arts. 286 and ss CPP)
2. The filing of proceedings in the
following cases: (art.79 CPP)
• When there are no reasons or factual
circumstances that allow it to be
characterized as a crime.
• When there are no reasons or factual
circumstances that indicate its possible
existence as such.
The prosecutor's decision regarding the
filing of the proceedings must be
motivated and communicated to the
complainant and the Public Ministry
(Sent. C-1154/05).
The filing of the proceedings does not
have the character of res judicata, since if
new EMPs arise, the investigation will be
resumed as long as the criminal action
has not been extinguished.
The criminal news
Criminal news is the knowledge or
information obtained by the judicial
police or the Prosecutor's Office, in
relation to the commission of one or
several behaviors that have the
characteristics of a crime, externalized
through different forms or sources. It can
be verbal, written or formulated using
any technical means that generally
allows the identification of its author.
Sources of criminal news

1. Formal:
• Complaint. It is presented by any
natural person or the legal
representative of an affected legal
entity.
criminal news
• Special request: Attorney General of the
Nation.
• Complaint: from the victim or directly
harmed, their legal representative or
heirs; of the family defender or the
agent of the Public Ministry, as the case
may be. (Law 1542/2012 Art.74 CPP).
criminal news
• Any other means of official origin:
such as reports from the police or
another authority that has
knowledge of the occurrence of an
event with probable criminal
connotations.
criminal news
2. Non-formal:
Information obtained through telephone
calls, news disseminated by the media,
anonymous, informants and email.
 Duration of the Investigation
Art.175 Modified law 1453/2011 Art.49.
The prosecutor's office will have a
maximum period of 2 years from the
receipt of the criminal notice to
formulate an accusation or order the
reasoned closure of the investigation.
The maximum term will be 3 years when
there is a combination of crimes or when
there are three or more defendants.
If the matter falls under the jurisdiction
of the criminal judges of the specialized
circuit, the maximum investigation
period is 5 years .
Law 1474 of 2011 Art. 35 added the
paragraph to Art 175 in relation to the
expansion of the terms for investigation
in processes for crimes under the
jurisdiction of the criminal judges of the
specialized circuit, for crimes against
public administration and economic
assets that fall under the jurisdiction of
the criminal judges of the specialized
circuit.
bre State property with respect to which
preventive detention is appropriate. The
terms will be doubled when there are
three (3) or more defendants or crimes
under investigation.
During this investigation, if the
prosecutor finds that the act did not
exist, or that it does not constitute a
crime, or that whoever committed it
performed died, or there is no place to
exercise the action because it is
prescribed, or the complaint was
withdrawn or it cannot be formulated
because it has expired, or there is another
objective cause for extinction of the
criminal action, you must request the
hearing judge preclusion of criminal
action (sentence C - 591 of 2005.
Constitutional Court declares
unenforceability
partial of article 78 of the CPP). You can
also file it if it is not possible to
preliminarily determine that the conduct
is criminal or that it existed. In this event,
you can resume the investigation if new
evidence emerges and the criminal action
has not prescribed.
On the contrary, if a preliminary
evaluation of the results of the execution
of the methodological plan can provide
items materials
evidence or legally obtained information
on which the commission of punishable
conduct can be determined and has been
identified, or by
At the very least, individualize the
possible author or participant and
reasonably infer that the person on
whom the investigation has been carried
out is the author or participant in the
crime being investigated, then the
prosecutor proceeds to formulate an
accusation through a request made to the
control judge. of guarantees for the
respective hearing to be established.
The Constitutional Court explained in
ruling C-1154 of 2005 the following: “In
effect, during the pre-procedural stage of
investigation, as in the course of the
investigation, 'tests' are not really carried
out, except for those anticipated in an
exceptional manner, but are collected,
both by the Prosecutor's Office and by
the accused or accused, material
elements of evidence, physical evidence
and information, such as fingerprints,
traces, weapons, the effects of the crime,
and data messages, among others.”
RESEARCH STAGE
The investigation is the phase in which
the delegated prosecutor, with the
support of the judicial police, seeks to
strengthen the evidentiary material
elements or physical evidence or legally
obtained information that served as the
basis for the formulation of the
accusation, with the objective of being
able to accuse the alleged
authors or participants in the
investigated conduct, request estoppel, or
apply the principle of opportunity.
The investigation begins with the
formulation of the accusation and extends
until before the presentation of the
indictment, without prejudice to the fact
that the investigative acts may continue
even until the oral trial, since during its
development it is possible the appearance
of evidentiary material elements, physical
evidence or
legally obtained information not known
until that moment, which exceptionally
can be adduced by the parties during the
evidentiary stage of the debate, in
accordance with the provisions of the final
paragraph of article 344 of the CPP
Duration of the research phase
The duration of the investigation is limited
and peremptory. Starting from the day
following the formulation of the
accusation, the Prosecutor's Office has 90
days to formulate the accusation, present a
document of accusation or request
preclusion before the hearing judge (Art
175-294).
The term will be 120 days when:
■Contest of crimes is presented.
■There are three or more defendants.
■When it comes to the competence of the
judges criminal of the circuit
specialized (art. 35 CPP).
If you do not choose one of these decisions
will lose the competence to continue
acting, of which he will immediately
inform his respective superior, who will
appoint a new prosecutor to adopt the
decision within 60 days or 90 days when
there is a competition of crimes, there are
three or more defendants and when it is
the jurisdiction of the specialized circuit
criminal judges.
Once the deadline has expired, if the
situation has not been defined, the accused
will be immediately released and the
defense or the Public Ministry will request
preclusion from the hearing judge.
The expiration of the terms constitutes
grounds for misconduct, with disciplinary
and criminal investigation.
Formulation of imputation
The delegated prosecutor will make the
factual accusation when the material
probative elements, physical evidence or
legally obtained information allow him to
reasonably infer that the accused is the
author or participant in the crime being
investigated, he will proceed to request the
Guarantee Control Judge for the
appointment of the day and time for the
preliminary hearing in which charges will
be filed against him. Likewise, if
appropriate, it will request the imposition
of an insurance measure. From that
moment on, the accused will acquire the
status of accused and will be summoned
with a defense attorney to the hearings.
Formulation of imputation
At the hearing to formulate the accusation
before the guarantee control judge, the
prosecutor informs the person of their
status as accused and tells them the
specific facts that are the subject of the
investigation in the presence of their
defender.
Requirements
The act of formulating an accusation is
demanding. Indeed, when faced with this
option, the prosecutor must have elements
of judgment that allow him to:
1. Specifically individualize the accused.
You must then provide your name,
other information that serves to
identify you, and the
address so that it can be summoned.
2. Make a clear and succinct list of the
legally relevant facts, in
understandable language, without this
constituting discovery of the material
probative elements or physical
evidence, or of the information you
have, without prejudice to what is
required to impose a measure of
assurance, which may be requested at the
same hearing. The prosecutor must take
into account that once the accusation is
formulated, the maximum period of 90 or
120 days begins to run to formulate the
accusation, request preclusion or apply
the principle of opportunity.
This implies that when he decides to
accuse, he must be in a position to affirm,
with probability of truth, that the criminal
conduct existed and that the accused is
the author or participant in the crime
under investigation.
Declaration of absent person
Notion
It is the supplementary form of linking a
person to the criminal investigation, when
it has not been possible to locate them to
file charges despite having exhausted all
possible means for that purpose.
Procedure
This declaration corresponds to the
guarantee control judge, who verifies in a
real and material manner that it has been
impossible for the prosecutor to locate
the person required to formulate the
accusation or take any security measure
that affects him, according to the
elements of knowledge. -
 absent person
ment that demonstrate that he has insisted
on locating him, through mechanisms of
Reasonable Sufficient Search and
and

Subpoenas for obtain an hi

appearance. s
Once the above requirements have been
verified, the person will be summoned by
EDICT that will be posted for a period of
five (5) days in a visible place in the
secretary of the court and will be published
in a radio and press medium with local
coverage. Likewise, a defender designated
by the National Public Defender System
will be appointed. (Art. 127 CPP). Under
these terms, the prosecutor may
subsequently request the Guarantees
Control Judge to schedule the preliminary
hearing to formulate the accusation.
CONTUMACY
In the event that the accused has been
summoned to the hearing to formulate the
accusation, when he has already appeared
at another preliminary hearing, for
example the legalization of capture, and
does not appear, the prosecutor will
request the Guarantee Control Judge, at
the respective hearing , who declares him
in default and will formulate the
accusation against the defender that that
has designated, or failing that, before the
one assigned by the judge on the list of the
National Public Defender System.
From the hearing to formulate the
accusation and until before the indictment
is presented, the Prosecutor's Office and
the accused may reach an agreement on
the terms of the accusation.
Pre-agreement-imputation
Once the pre-agreement is obtained, the
prosecutor will present it to the hearing
judge as a document of accusation.
The prosecutor and the accused, through
the defender, may reach an agreement in
which the accused pleads guilty to the
charged crime, or to a related crime with a
lesser penalty, in exchange for the
prosecutor:
Pre-agreements-imputation
1 Eliminate from your accusation any cause
of punitive aggravation or any specific
charge.
2 . Type the conduct, within your
conclusive allegation, in a specific way with
a view to reducing the penalty.
At the conclusion of the prosecutor's oral
intervention, the judge informs the
accused that if he accepts the accusation
he has the right to have the sentencing
judge reduce his sentence to half of the
impossible sentence .
If the accused was caught red-handed,
inform him that he has the right to a
sentence reduction of 12.5% (a quarter
reduction) (art.301 modified Law 1453 of
2011 art.57).
If the accused accepts the accusation, it
will be understood that what was done is
sufficient as an accusation. The
Prosecutor's Office will attach the
writing that contains the imputation or
agreement that will be sent to the judge
of knowledge, so that he may examine it
and determine if it is voluntary, free and
spontaneous, he will proceed to accept it
without the possibility of retraction by
any of the interveners from then on, and
he will call to hearing for the
individualization of the penalty and
sentence
tenancy.
Before finishing the accusation hearing,
the judge imposes a prohibition on the
accused from selling assets subject to
registration during the six (6) months
following the formulation of the
accusation (art. 97 cpp).
PRELIMINARY HEARINGS
They are those that are carried out
before the Guarantees Control Judge
during the investigation and
investigation to order or control actions,
resolve petitions or make decisions. By
exception, they take place in the judging
phase; for example, to resolve a request
for advance testing, or
legalization of capture produced after
the presentation of the indictment .
They are classified, according to their
nature, into prior judicial authorization
hearings; (body inspection, personal
search, etc.); judicial control of orders
issued by the prosecutor; (surveillance
and monitoring of people and
surveillance of things); verification
(formulation of imputation); decision
(imposition of
security measure, arrest warrant,
suspension of dispositive power, etc.);
control of the order and the result
(searches and raids, interception of
communications, selective search in
databases, etc.).
For the purposes of the refresher course
given to students, we will take into
account some preliminary hearings:
legalization of capture, formulation of
accusation and security measure.
LEGALIZATION OF CAPTURE
Its objective is to exercise legal and
constitutional control over the
deprivation of liberty.
Control over the abuse of power and
verification that in the act of deprivation
of liberty no techniques such as torture
or degrading treatment were used, in
such a way that the
Judge can attest to the physical situation
in which the person is found (SC-425/2008).
.

SC-251/2002 “The regulation on

"The capture has a purpose beyond
ensuring that the restriction of freedom
is carried out in accordance with the law
and before competent officials, the
protection of the integrity of the person."
In legalizing the capture, the judge
assesses:
■ Factual aspects of immediacy
requirements.
■ Present.
■ Full identification of the accused.
FORMULATION OF IMUTATION
Act by which the delegated prosecutor
who directs the investigation informs a
person, in a hearing before the
Guarantees Control Judge, of his status
as an accused. In other words, it clearly
and succinctly relates the legally relevant
facts that have been derived from the
material elements.
probative or physical evidence or
information obtained and from which
the prosecutor can reasonably infer that
the accused is the author or participant
in the investigated conduct.
The formulation of accusation is an act
of communication and exercise of
criminal action of exclusive
responsibility.
 Office of the Attorney General of the
Nation through the delegated prosecutor
assigned to the case, therefore the
inference is not the subject of discussion
in the respective hearing. (SC-303/2013)
.

Since when has the status of accused

been acquired ?
From its link to the action through the
formulation of imputation or from the
capture if this occurs first.
Procedure
P The delegated prosecutor delivers the
duly completed preliminary hearing
request form to the judicial services
center.
> The judicial services center will
indicate the day and time in which the
hearing must be held and the judge
who must preside over it. who will
summon those who must intervene in
it
 If the accused appears without a
defender, the judge will appoint one
from the National Public Defender
System in the same hearing, as imposed
by the guiding principles of speed,
orality and concentration that govern
the new criminal process.
The judge gives the floor to the
delegated prosecutor who, in his
intervention, after duly individualizing
or identifying the accused by his
personal data and indicating his address
for the purposes of summonses and
notifications, will make a clear and brief
list of the legal facts.
relevant, without this implying the
discovery of material elements of
evidence or evidence or the delivery of
information to the accused or his
defense attorney. The delegated
prosecutor will inform the accused that,
if he accepts the terms of the accusation,
he will be reduced by up to half
 of the impossible penalty.
The Guarantees Control Judge will ask
the accused whether or not he accepts
the terms of the accusation and if he
does so, he will ensure that he does so in
an express, free, voluntary and informed
manner. If the accused agrees to the
formulation of the accusation, it must be
understood that what was done is
sufficient as an accusation.
When in the formulation and accusation
there is an acknowledgment of charges, it
is not necessary to present a document of
accusation. The minutes or document
recording the agreement serves as an
accusation. From this moment on, the
prosecutor and the judge lose jurisdiction
over the accusation.
Once the accusation has been formulated, the
Guarantees Control Judge will expressly
impose a prohibition on the sale of assets
subject to registration, during the six months
following that procedure because, if done
without his authorization, the negotiation
will be void and this will be decreed at the
time. If the accused has known assets, to
guarantee the
effectiveness of this measure, the
prohibition will be communicated to the
corresponding registry offices. Once the
hearing to formulate the accusation is
concluded, the prosecutor must report this
news to the Information System within five
days following the decision, as provided in
article 129 of the CPP.
Code, to keep the registry of people linked
to a criminal investigation updated.
From the formulation of the accusation,
the period of 90 or 120 days begins to run
for the purposes of formulating an
accusation. The unjustified expiration of
said term, without having
presentation of an indictment, implies that
the prosecutor is separated from
knowledge of the investigation, without
prejudice to the criminal and disciplinary
investigations that may take place.
 INSURANCE MEASURE
It is a precautionary measure of a
preventive and provisional nature and not a
sanction, that is, it is not the result of a
conviction, nor does it require a prior trial.
The security measure seeks to respond to
the interests of the investigation and justice
by seeking
the appearance of the accused at the trial
and prevent his escape, the continuation of
his criminal activity or the work he
undertakes to hide, destroy, deform or
distort the EMP. The insurance measure
seeks to protect the victims.
Security measures mean the material or
legal limitation of a person's freedom and
some rights such as economic assets (if a
real bond is imposed), transportation (if
periodic presentations or an electronic
device are imposed).
The security measure is requested by the
prosecutor from the guarantee control
judge when he reasonably infers that the
accused is the author or participant in the
punishable conduct being investigated,
and must indicate the person, the crime,
elements of knowledge to support the
measure and its urgency. .
The security measure may also be
requested by the victim or his or her
representative, in the event that the
prosecutor's office does not request it, but
in this case the judge will assess the
reasons that support the non-request by
the prosecutor's office, in order to
determine the viability. of its imposition.
The presence of the lawyer is a validity
requirement.
 Measurement requirements
assurance

In accordance with Article 308 of the CPP,

the requirements for the Guarantee
Control Judge to decree the insurance
measure are subjective and objective in
nature.
Subjective requirements
• That the security measure is shown to be
necessary to prevent the accused from
obstructing the due exercise of justice.
• That the accused constitutes a danger to
the safety of society or the victim
• That it is probable that the accused
will not appear at the trial or will not
comply with the sentence.
The provisional legal classification is not
decisive to infer the three aforementioned
requirements, and the Guarantees Control
Judge must sufficiently assess whether in
the future the requirements will be
configured to decree the insurance
measure, have
exclusively as consideration of the
punishable conduct being investigated
(paragraph added to Art. 308 of the CPP,
by law 1760/20015 art. 2).
Objective requirements.
In accordance with article 313 modified by
article 60, of Law 1453/11, and which will
give rise to preventive detention in a prison
establishment: . Crimes under the
jurisdiction of the specialized circuit
criminal judges.
• Crimes that can be investigated ex officio
when the minimum penalty provided by
law
exceeds four (4) years.
• Crimes against copyright (articles 270 to
272 of the Penal Code).
• When the person has been captured for
conduct constituting a crime or
contravention, within the period of the
previous three years, counted from the
new capture or accusation, provided that
the preclusion or acquittal has not
occurred in the preceding case.
Types of assurance measures
1. Deprivation of liberty:
The criterion for its imposition is related to
the penalty provided by law, that is, when
the minimum contemplated for the crime
is four (4) years in prison. These custodial
measures are:
Security measures that deprive of liberty
may only be imposed when the person
requesting them proves, before the
Guarantee Control Judge, that the non-
custodial measures are insufficient to
guarantee compliance with the purposes of
the security measure (Law 1760/ 15 art. 1.
adds paragraph 2 to art. 307 of the CPP).
The custodial measures are:
1. In confinement establishment.
2. At the residence indicated by the
accused, as long as that location does
not hinder the trial.
3. Not deprivation of liberty .
The criterion for its application relates to
behaviors with a punitive parameter below
the limit indicated in advance, including
crimes that require a complaint, in
accordance with arts. 307B and 315 idem,
custodial and non-custodial of liberty. One
of the criteria for its definition is related to
the penalty provided for in the law, since
articles 307A and 313.2 contemplate the
custodial measure for crimes with a
minimum penalty equal to or greater than
four years in prison,
while for punishable behaviors with a
punitive parameter below the limit
indicated in advance, articles 307B and 315
establish the eventual imposition of
measures other than the impact on
freedom.
They are non-custodial security measures,
according to article 307 B of the CPP:
• Obligation to submit to an electronic
surveillance mechanism.
• Obligation to submit to the surveillance
of a specific person or institution.
• Obligation of introduce
oneself
periodically when required by the judge
or authority designated by him.
• Obligation to observe good individual,
family and social behavior.
• Prohibition to leave the country, place of
residence or territorial area established by the
judge.
• Prohibition of concur to
certain places or meetings.
• Prohibition of communicating with
certain people or with victims, as long as
the right to defense is not affected.
• Prohibition of leaving the place of residence
between 6:00 pm and 6:00
A.M
The judge may impose one or more of
these measures, joint
either
interchangeably, depending on the case,
adopting the necessary precautions to
ensure compliance.
A security bond will not be imposed when
the person is notoriously insolvent.
Students will read:
■ Law 1760 of 2015.
■ Law 1142 of 2007 article 27.
■ Law 1474 of 2011 article 39.
 ORAL TRIAL
It is the final phase-vertebral phase of the
new accusatory criminal system, which is
in charge of the Judge of Knowledge and
begins with the presentation of the
accusation document that must meet the
full requirements demanded in article 337
of the Code of Criminal Procedure. It is
made up of the following hearings: 1.
Formulation of accusation.
2.Preparatory.
3. Oral trial.
4. Sentence setting.
5. Comprehensive reparation incident,
which takes place after a guilty verdict has
been issued, and whose decision must be
incorporated into the sentence.
End of trial.
It begins with the presentation of the
indictment and extends until the hearing
to individualize the sentence and sentence.
It is brought forward in its entirety before
the Judge of knowledge in the times
established by the code of criminal
procedure.
 1. ACCUSATION HEARING
It is the first hearing prior to the oral trial
in which the Attorney General's Office,
verbally, accuses a person before the
competent Judge of being the author or
participant in criminal conduct.
Budget
The basis for the prosecutor to present
the indictment arises from the material
evidentiary elements, physical evidence or
legally obtained information and that it
can be stated, with probability of truth ,
that the criminal conduct existed and that
the accused is the author or participant.
indictment
It is the document through which the
prosecutor, within the next 90/120 days counted
from the day following the formulation of the
accusation, informs the Judge of Knowledge that
in accordance with the EMP, EF or information
legally obtained and with probability of truth
that the criminal conduct existed and that the
accused is a participating author.
Hearing procedure,
• Within three days following the
presentation of the indictment, the Trial
Judge assigned to the case sets the date
and time for holding this hearing.
• Before declaring the hearing open, the
judge verifies, for the purposes of its
validity, the attendance of the
prosecutor, the defender and
• of the accused if he is the
freedom, unless you don't want to A
or is reluctant to transfer. The absence of
the other participants does not affect the
validity of the hearing.
• The judge opens the hearing and transfers
the indictment to the defense and the
Public Ministry; grants them the floor to
express orally the causes of incompetence
or impediment, challenge or nullity, if
any
 • The delegated prosecutor orally
presents the grounds of the accusation.
• The prosecutor states the elements of
knowledge he has to comply with matters
related to the discovery of evidence.
• The prosecutor, at the request of the
defense, discovers the material element of
evidence or physical evidence that is
specifically indicated.
• The prosecutor may request the defense to
discover, exhibit or deliver specific material
evidence of conviction and sworn statements
that
intend to assert in the trial, as well as expert
examinations
performed on the accused aimed at
demonstrating some causal of
non-imputability.
• It recognizes the status of victim to those who
constitute themselves as such and their legal
representative.
The victim has the right to be provided
with evidence art. 11 literal d) of Law 906 of
2004. – “…you may request the judge to
discover a specific material element of
evidence or specific physical evidence”196.
Likewise, the victim must disclose the
probative material elements, physical
evidence and legally obtained information
that he or she has.
 and wishes to assert - in the trial, what
must be made known to the parties."
• The judge must ensure that the discovery
of the evidentiary material elements or
physical evidence is as complete as
possible since discovery is exhausted until
this hearing.
• Provides, at the request of the delegated
prosecutor, comprehensive protection
measures for victims and witnesses.
• Approves or disapproves the agreements that
the parties have reached.
• Suspend conditionally he
procedure, when applicable; for example, to
apply the Opportunity Principle.
• The accusation formulation hearing ends when
the judge sets the date and time for the
preparatory hearing, which must take place no
less than 15 days, nor more than 30 days
following its appointment, that is, 45 days.
2. PREPARATORY HEARING
• It is a transition hearing between the
accusation formulation hearing and the oral
trial hearing, which aims to plan, delimit and
determine the evidentiary activity that will be
developed in the latter, with which each party
intends to demonstrate its theory of the case.
It is necessary that the hearing to formulate
the accusation has been held.
Procedure
• The judge of knowledge with the mandatory
presence of the prosecutor and the defender
and the presence
optional of the accused, he
Public Ministry and the representative of the
victims, opens the corresponding hearing.
• The judge orders the defense to discover the
material evidentiary elements, evidence
physical and
information that will be used during the
 orally, if they did not do so during the
accusation hearing or if they appeared later.
• The discovery that the defense must make
includes the sworn statements of the witnesses
that it will summon at the oral trial, as well as
the reports of the experts who will testify
there.
• The judge orders that the Prosecutor's Office,
victim and defense state all the evidence that
they will present at the oral trial hearing. The
victim “can make observations about the
discovery of elements
• evidentiary materials and all the evidence that
will be used in the oral trial hearing.
• The judge questions the accused to make a
statement of responsibility or innocence. In
the first event, the procedure for pre-
agreement hearings will be applied, in which
case the judge will proceed to issue a sentence
reducing the penalty to be imposed by up to a
third ; Otherwise, the ordinary process of the
preparatory hearing continues.
• The judge will give the floor to the Prosecutor's
Office, the victim and then the defense to
request the evidence they require to support
their claim. The Public Prosecutor's Office,
exceptionally, and only exceptionally, may
request evidence ignored by the parties that
has an essential influence on the results of the
trial.
judgment.
• The Prosecutor's Office, victim, defense and
the Public Ministry may request exclusion,
• rejection or inadmissibility of means of proof
that are useless, impertinent, repetitive, illegal,
or aimed at proving notorious facts or that do
not require proof, or that refer to the
conversations that the Prosecutor's Office has
had with the accused, accused or his defender
on the occasion of pre-agreements, conditional
suspensions and application of the principle of
opportunity.
• The judge proceeds to resolve the evidentiary
requests made by the parties and the requests
to exclude, reject or inadmiss some means of
evidence.
• At the request of one of the parties, the judge
must order the other to exhibit the probative
material elements or physical evidence during
this hearing, for the sole purpose of knowing
and studying them209.
• Once the above has been decided, the judge
determines the order of presentation of the
evidence in the oral trial, taking into account
the following order: first that of the
Prosecutor's Office and then that of the
defense, without prejudice to interspersing the
rebuttal evidence of the defense and the
• accusation, in its order; then those that have
been exceptionally requested by the Public
Ministry.
• Finally, the judge will set the date, time and
room for the oral trial hearing, which must
take place within 30 days following the
completion of high school, that is, 45 days.
3. ORAL TRIAL HEARING
The oral trial hearing is the most
important procedural act of the
accusatory criminal process - spinal
phase, which is carried out before the
judge of knowledge who serves as an
impartial third party, publicly, with full
exercise of the principles of orality,
publicity, immediacy, concentration,
contradiction of evidence, with respect
for all
constitutional and legal guarantees.
■ In this hearing, the parties, the
Prosecutor's Office and the defense,
under conditions of complete equality,
submit to debate the ordered means of
evidence that they have considered
relevant to achieve their respective
claims.
■ The hearing judge establishes the
hearing and presides over it in its
entirety, verifying the presence of the
parties
■ necessary for the validity of the act:
prosecutor, defense lawyer and the accused
deprived of liberty, unless he does not wish to
attend or has opposed his transfer. The
accused who is not deprived of liberty and the
other interveners such as the victim and the
Public Prosecutor's Office may also attend, if
they wish.
■ In this hearing, several stages are
distinguished: initial argument, presentation
of the case, evidentiary debate, concluding
allegations.
■ sive of the parties and interveners, and
decision or meaning of the ruling.
Initial allegation : It is the procedural moment
in which each of the parties, first the
Prosecutor's Office and then the defense if they
wish, present before the hearing judge their
particular theory of the case, based on the
elements of knowledge existing up to that
moment.
Presentation of the theory of the case: It is the
oral and descriptive presentation of the case that
the parties make to the hearing judge to
. inform him of the circumstances in happe
ned
the crime. This is a historical narrative
but brief of what happened, accompanied by
the enunciation of the evidentiary material
elements that will demonstrate the truth of
what was stated. It is also known as an opening
statement or initial statement that precedes the
evidentiary debate. This initial statement is
mandatory for the Prosecutor's Office, but not
for the defense.
The evidentiary debate : It is that stage
that takes place during the oral trial, in
which the parties present and dispute the
material elements and physical evidence
that they intend to use as evidence. The
catalog of rules that govern the ritual of
taking evidence in the oral trial hearing
has been specified in detail in articles 383
to 441 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
 • The interrogation of the witness
It(Direct).
is the question-answer technique that allows
obtaining information from witnesses and introducing
physical and demonstrative evidence that is relevant
due to its relationship to a crucial aspect of the debate.
With him and through him we try to establish the truth
of the facts and seek to have that information admitted
as evidence in the criminal process. The central
objective of the interrogation is that the witness's
statement is taken as evidence to support the
accusation because it refers to facts that are known to
him by direct perception and that are the subject of
controversy in the trial.
Open questions are admissible in direct interrogation,
that is, those that allow freedom and length in the
response, according to the knowledge of the witness,
and guide the interrogation, but not the answers.
Example What did you observe at the scene? What did
you have to do in that procedure? Explain to us why
you did that.
The following are not admissible in direct examination:
• Suggestive, leading, impertinent or superf luent
questions.
 • It is prohibited to ask questions that
lead to
conclude; those who request an opinion; the
hypothetical ones; those that correspond to a
technical testimony when the declarant does not have
such quality;
those that seek to distort the answers; the speculative
ones; the composite ones; the argumentative ones;
the confusing and repetitive ones.
Cross-examination
It is the confrontation made by the party other
than the one who requested and initiated the
interrogation. It is limited to the topics addressed in
the direct examination, as well as aspects related to
prejudice, interest or other reasons that may prove
the witness's bias. It takes place in the oral trial,
immediately after the questioning by the party that
presented the witness. It may also be carried out
exceptionally when the testimony is received in a
preliminary hearing before the
guarantee control judge, as occurs with the practice
of advance evidence, or in hearings for the
legalization of capture or the imposition of a
security measure, when the prosecution presents
witnesses to support its request.
Allegations of the parties and interveners: It is the
oral presentation made by the parties, and
eventually the representative of the victim and the
Public Prosecutor's Office, before the hearing judge,
with the aim of presenting the conclusions derived
from what was demonstrated in the evidentiary
debate in relation to his theory of the case.
• First, the prosecutor presents his concluding
argument.
the prosecutor, then the representative of the victim,
if there is one, and the Public Prosecutor's Office
who can present allegations related to the
responsibility of the accused.
• Subsequently, the defense intervenes if it considers
it pertinent, but its arguments can only be
disputed by the prosecutor. If this occurs, the
defense may exercise its right to reply – limited to
the topic addressed and it will be the defense who
has the last turn of argumentative intervention.
Decision or meaning of the
ruling
It is the pronouncement made by the hearing judge
once the evidentiary debate has closed and which
consists of expressing to the audience, orally and
publicly, whether the accused is guilty or innocent
and of what crime or crimes.
 Hearing for Individualization of Penalty and Sentence
It is the pronouncement made by the hearing judge
once he has pronounced the meaning of the
conviction, to briefly listen to the parties about their
proposals to assess the specific sentence and grant or
deny criminal subrogations.
If the ruling is condemnatory, or if the judge accepts
the agreement entered into by the Prosecutor's
Office with the accused assisted by his defender, he
grants the floor only once to the prosecutor and then
to the defense to refer to the individual, social and
relatives, way of life and background of all kinds of
the guilty and, if deemed necessary, to the probable
determination of punishment and the granting of a
criminal subrogation.
If the judge deems it necessary to expand this
information, he or she requests a public or private
institution to appoint an expert so that within 10
business days he or she can respond to the request
that has been expressly made to him or her. Below is
the place, date and time for the hearing in which the
sentence will be pronounced, within a period that
may not exceed 15 days from the end of the oral trial.
Comprehensive repair incident
It is the incidental and subsequent phase of
the oral trial that has concluded with a ruling
that declares the criminal responsibility of the
accused, that is, a conviction that begins at
the request of the victim, or of the prosecutor
or the Public Ministry at her request, with the
purpose of obtaining reparation for the
damage caused by the crime. It will be
convened 8 days after the oral trial.
• The parties involved are invited to conciliate
and if there is an agreement it is
incorporated into the decision and if there is
no agreement, evidence offered by the
parties will be taken and the basis of their
claims will be heard.
• There is a withdrawal when the applicant
does not attend the hearing, he will be
ordered to pay costs and it will be archived.
• If the convicted person does not appear, the
evidence offered by those present is received
and a decision is made based on it.
• The judge in the same hearing through a
sentence will put an end to the incident .
• The request for comprehensive reparation expires 30
days after the conviction becomes final.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
• Penal Code.
• Code of Criminal Procedure.
• Manual of procedures of the Attorney General's
Office.
• Structure of the criminal process-Attorney General's
Office.
• Judicial Police Manual.
• Chain of Custody Manual.
THANK YOU