You can intervene in the proceeding the prosecution is running or, for certain offences, prosecute on your own account. This page explains what each route involves and how the choice is made.
The problem is not only the offence
The Prosecution Service investigates and charges in the name of the State, and the Constitution requires it to look after victims. But its interests and yours do not always coincide. That shows above all where the prosecution decides with a margin of its own: closing the file, applying the principle of opportunity, or agreeing a plea. That is why the law does not treat you as a passive subject of protection, but as a participant with powers of your own: to put in evidence, to be heard, to appeal and to seek redress. Those powers do not exercise themselves. For certain offences there is also the route of prosecuting on your own account. Which suits you is decided case by case.
What representation does
From the inquiry stage, the defence of your interests puts in the evidence you hold and asks for what is missing. It applies for you to be recognised as a victim if you are not already. It intervenes in the hearings before trial: charging, pre-trial detention and the preparatory hearing. At trial it exercises your rights through the prosecutor and makes closing submissions. If the prosecution and the defence negotiate a plea agreement, it demands that you be heard before the judge approves it and sets out your position on the harm. Where Law 1826 of 2017 allows it, it conducts the private prosecution. And at the end, it argues the full-redress proceeding with evidence prepared from the outset.
All of that is built with the same method the firm applies in defence work: a theory of the case with four planes. The factual theory fixes what happened and what can be proved. The legal theory establishes which offence it is and what rights your status as a victim confers. The evidentiary theory decides what will establish the act and the harm. The litigation strategy defines what to ask for, from whom and in which hearing.
The route, in short
At the inquiry and investigation stages you may report the offence, put in evidence and ask for investigative acts to be carried out. If the prosecution charges and indicts, your interests are defended within that proceeding. If the offence allows it and the prosecution is not moving, conversion of the action into a private prosecution may be sought. At the preparatory hearing there is a fight over what evidence goes to trial, including evidence of the harm. At trial the victim acts through the prosecutor, who must hear your lawyer, and retains closing submissions and the right of appeal. Once the conviction is final, the full-redress proceeding opens, which has a short deadline and is lost if it is not applied for. Each stretch opens a window that does not wait. Your rights in detail are set out in victim of a crime: your rights, and the whole route of the proceeding in the stages of criminal proceedings.
Private prosecution is a tool
Law 1826 of 2017 allows the victim, for certain offences, to take over the prosecution in place of the Prosecution Service. It serves where the prosecution does not open the investigation or does not move it forward. It is not the regime for every case: in most, you intervene within the proceeding the prosecution is running, not in its place. Whether conversion is viable, what taking it on involves and whether it suits you is decided in the initial consultation, with the file in view.
The matters representation covers
Violence in the family setting and gender-based violence. Sexual offences. Personal injury and negligent homicide, including road traffic cases. Offences against property, such as fraud, theft and extortion. And conduct by public officials that causes harm to private parties. The list is not closed: victim representation lies in any offence. If yours does not appear here, the initial consultation decides whether it makes sense.
When the victim is a company
A company is a victim too: of fraud by an employee or a partner, of disloyal administration, of internal theft, of damage to its systems or of a fraud that strikes its assets. It appears through its legal representative or through counsel, with the same powers as any victim. What changes is the evidence: it usually sits in emails, systems and accounts, and it has to be gathered without contaminating it and without committing a fresh offence. That is why, before reporting, an investigation plan is advisable; that is the service of advice on the investigation of offences. Representation begins when the case reaches the prosecution and runs through to redress of the harm.
Who takes the case
Juan Antonio Matiz Estrategia Legal SAS is a boutique firm devoted exclusively to criminal law. Representation is led by Juan Antonio Matiz Monroy, a graduate of Universidad de los Andes with a specialisation in Criminal Law from Universidad Sergio Arboleda, professional licence 294.746. His full background is on the firm’s page. The rigour with which a theory of the case is built in defence work is the same that is here put at the victim’s service.
Initial consultation
In the initial consultation we study with you the facts, the state of the investigation, the available evidence and your procedural standing. At the end, you take away four concrete things. First, whether you are already recognised as a victim or whether that must be applied for. Second, which stage the case is at. Third, whether private prosecution applies or not, and why. Fourth, what the first useful act of this week is. If representation is not viable or does not suit you, we say so plainly. Cases are not taken for the sake of taking them.
The initial consultation has a price, which is deducted from the fee if you retain the firm within 30 days of the opinion. It can be held in person in Bogotá or remotely from anywhere in Colombia or abroad. Representation is exercised before the courts where the proceeding is being conducted, anywhere in the country.
Frequently asked questions
What people usually ask us
If a prosecutor is already investigating, why do I need my own lawyer?
The Prosecution Service has a duty to look after victims, but it acts in the name of the State and its interests do not necessarily coincide with yours. The law recognises powers that are yours, and only someone acting in your name exercises them. Among them: putting in evidence, intervening in the hearings, being heard before a plea agreement and appealing what harms you.
Is representation only useful if the case reaches trial?
No. Most of the decisions that affect the victim are taken before trial: what is investigated, what evidence goes in and whether there is a plea agreement. That is why representation begins at the inquiry stage, not in the hearing room.
What is the full-redress proceeding?
It is the procedure, before the same judge who convicted, in which redress for the harm is fixed. It opens on the victim’s application, within a short period after the conviction becomes final. There the harm and its amount are proved. If it is not applied for in time, the conviction is left without redress in the criminal proceeding.
What if the prosecution and the accused have already reached a plea agreement?
The agreement must be put to the judge, and the victim has the right to be informed and heard by the prosecutor and by the judge before it is approved. There is no power of veto, but the judge must ensure the agreement does not disregard the victim’s guarantees, and you retain the right of appeal and the redress proceeding. The initial consultation reviews the state of that agreement and what can still be done.