Renowned Colombian journalist Jineth Bedoya, who was abducted, sexually assaulted and tortured by paramilitaries in 2000 while she was on assignment reporting on Colombia’s U.S.-backed war, has dropped her case after a quarter of a century fighting for justice. Bedoya wrote on social media, “The impunity in my case will go down in [Colombia’s] history. My work, as a journalist, will continue.” Democracy Now! spoke to Bedoya in The Hague in 2015.

Jineth Bedoya: “To go publicly and say that you’ve been a victim of sexual violence changes your life forever, because we live in a very machista world in which they tell you that you’re guilty for your rape. But I realized that if I didn’t speak, other women wouldn’t be able to, either. And I feel like having spoken out has changed the life for many women in Colombia.”

International press freedom and human rights groups had for years pressured the Colombian government to fully investigate Bedoya’s case and prosecute those involved. In 2021, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled the Colombian government was responsible for Bedoya’s kidnapping, rape and torture.