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In an effort to undermine freedom of expression in Colombia, Prosegur is suing nine union members for a total of US$1,000,000 for protesting and speaking out against human rights abuses at the company in two separate cases. At the pre-trial hearing in Medellín Colombia, the judge ordered an investigation into the company’s lawyer, and a referred a Senior Manager to authorities for potentially obstructing justice.

Medellín, COLOMBIA.  A judge in Colombia has ordered an investigation into a lawyer representing Prosegur and referred a senior company manager to authorities for potential obstruction of justice.

The judge took the action after potential irregularities in a case where eight union members are being sued for a total of US$500,000 for supposed defamation at a protest in front of Prosegur premises in 2012. The workers earn on average US$500 per month.

Six of the eight workers sued by the company were not present at the protest where the alleged defamation took place.

Only five of the eight workers being sued by Prosegur attended the pre-trial hearing in Medellin. The three workers who were not present at the proceedings were not given release from work by Prosegur to attend the hearing. The judge referred Prosegur’s Medellin manager to authorities for potential obstruction of justice.

The President of the Sintravalores union, who is a Prosegur employee, is also personally being sued for US$500,000 in the Colombian capital of Bogotá. The liable action centers on a private letter sent to Prosegur’s head office in Madrid in 2011 by the UNI Global Alliance of Unions, denouncing human rights abuses by the company in Colombia.

Unusually, and after months of delays, pre-trial hearings for both the Medellín and Bogotá cases were scheduled for the same day meaning that the lawyers could not be in both cities at the same time. The union’s lawyer asked, and was granted, a postponement of the Bogota pre-trial hearing.

At the Medellín court appearance, Prosegur’s lawyer asked for the pre-trial hearing to be postponed due to the Bogotá case being scheduled for the same day even though this hearing had already been postponed. The judge ordered an investigation into Prosegur’s lawyer to establish whether she knowingly provided incorrect information to the court in requesting the postponement of the hearing.