Sara Sofía case: Nilson Díaz and Carolina Galván formally accused of aggravated enforced disappearance

This Thursday the Attorney General's Office formally charged Nilson Diaz and Carolina Galván for the disappearance of the girl Sara Sofía Galván. The child's stepfather and mother face the crime of aggravated enforced disappearance.

The investigating body recalled that the events involving the disappearance of the child under two years of age occurred in 2021. The girl's aunt, Xiomara Galván, was in charge of Sara Sofía until, on January 15, the baby's mother took her away for a weekend. “However, he never returned to the girl and apparently did not answer the calls again,” the Prosecutor's Office said in a press release.

Xiomara Galván was the one who reported the situation to the authorities and since then, the child's mother and stepfather have been investigated by the authorities. In fact, as the investigation progresses, Carolina Galvan and her former partner, Nilson Diaz, remain deprived of liberty.

The Prosecutor's Office indicated that the accusation is due to the fact that both have the responsibility of removing the girl “from an environment of protection offered by her aunt and later on when she disappeared”. In fact, a few months ago, the delegate of the Prosecutor's Office argued to La FM that, at the time, both “had the ability to understand the unlawfulness of the behavior”.

In context: It was one year since the disappearance of the baby Sara Sofía Galván without the prosecution being able to clarify the case

The hearing against Galvan and Diaz

At the hearing that took place this Thursday, prosecutor Mario Cuadros assured that the defendants “were falsely reporting her location (that of the girl), they knew she was a victim and that they removed her, violating her legal good of liberty.” Hence, they are charged with aggravated enforced disappearance as co-authors in their capacity as intent authors.

According to El Espectador, the defense of Carolina Galván, Magda Reyes, confirmed that she will provide the Third Specialized Criminal Court with a psychological assessment and a psychiatric examination that was carried out on the mother, in order to make a request for non-imputability. The results delivered by the lawyer will be reviewed at hearings that define the criminal liability of the defendants.

The same media outlet learned that Nilson Díaz, in the company of his lawyer, sought a pre-agreement with the prosecutor in the case behind closed doors. They failed to achieve their objective because of the strong defense opposition of the victims in the process.

It should be recalled that on 31 May the preparatory hearing will take place, at which witnesses will testify in the case and decide what evidence will be taken into account in the trial.

The hypotheses of the Prosecutor's Office

During the investigation process, Galván and Diaz provided different versions of the events that made the process of finding Sara Sofía difficult. For that reason, there are several hypotheses of what happened to the minor.

One of the theories held by the Prosecutor's Office is that Sara Sofía died after being beaten by her stepfather and subsequently her body was thrown into the Tunjuelito River. For a long time, however, Xiomara Galván claimed that the baby would have been sold, so Interpol issued a yellow circular to find the child.

The authorities have not been able to confirm any of the hypotheses and suspended the search for the body of the minor last December 2021.

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