Information sheet relating to deaths in Colombia Prepared by Consular section British Embassy Bogota https://www.gov.uk/government/world/colombia Disclaimer: This information is provided by the British Government for the convenience of enquirers, but neither Her Majesty s Government nor any official of the British Embassy Colombia take any responsibility for the accuracy of the information, nor accept liability for any loss, costs, damage or expense which you may suffer as a result of relying in the information supplied. It is not a substitute for obtaining your own legal advice.
GUIDANCE FOR NEXT OF KIN The death of a relative or a friend can be a traumatic experience. When the death takes place overseas, family and friends in the UK can feel additional distress as they are unfamiliar with foreign procedures and perhaps are unable to communicate in the language of the country where the death occurred. Consular Direcorate of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and our Embassy in Colombia are ready to help as far as we can. You may be uncertain about what to do next or who to contact for advice. These notes are designed to help you through the practical arrangements you will need to make. While care has been taken in compiling these notes, no legal liability for their contents is accepted by the British Embassy in Colombia or HM Government. You should be aware that Colombian procedures differ significantly to those in the United Kingdom and that, while we understand your need for arrangements to be made quickly, this is not always possible. WHAT STEPS HAVE TO BE TAKEN WHEN A PERSON DIES IN COLOMBIA The procedures (explained below) that must be followed in Colombia are extremely bureaucratic. You must ensure that you have all the necessary paperwork before you arrange a burial, cremation or repatriation. The most commonly used undertaker in Colombia is Funeraria Gaviria. Funeraria Gaviria is a well equipped company, used to working with foreigners, and has at least one Englishspeaking staff member. Funeraria Gaviria can repatriate the deceased back to the UK on your behalf and will liaise with foreign insurance companies. If a death occurs in any city outside Bogota, Funeraria Gaviria (which is based in Bogota) will liaise with other undertakers in Colombia. Other undertaking companies exist in Colombia and can be used, however, Consular Section in the Embassy in Bogota are unfamiliar with the types of services and standards that these companies may offer. Our Consular assistance team can provide you with a short list of other locally well recognised companies. Following the death of a British national in Colombia, their next of kin, or a formally appointed representative, must decide whether to repatriate the deceased to the UK, or carry out a local burial or cremation. If the deceased was covered by travel insurance, it is important for the next of kin to contact the insurance company without delay. If there is no insurance cover, the cost of repatriation or burial will need to be met by the family. Neither the Foreign and Commonwealth Office nor our Embassy in Colombia have budget to meet these costs. Consular Staff in London will pass on to the Embassy in Colombia, the wishes of the next of kin about repatriation or local burial, and details of who is taking responsibility for the costs involved. We will do our best to ensure these wishes are carried out. Once you have designated the local undertaker, they will make arrangements on your behalf and they will be in charge of obtaining all the required paperwork based on your instructions. If there is an insurance policy in place, the UK insurance company and designated UK funeral home will instruct the local undertaker and will co-ordinate the relevant payment.
BURIAL, CREMATION, REPATRIATION, EMBALMING IN COLOMBIA If next of kin choose to proceed with a local burial, cremation, repatriation and embalming they will need to instruct a local funeral director for local burial cremation or repatriation. If the person died of natural causes, the undertakers in Colombia will arrange for all the paperwork and the process. And if is not a natural death the Judicial police pathologists and the appointed forensic doctor must undertake an autopsy in order to establish the cause of death, and are also responsible for carrying out preservation work. For all the above local arrangements, the designated local undertaker will be in charge of gathering all the documents. REPATRIATION AND BURIAL OF ASHES/ REMAINS If the deceased was covered by travel insurance, the insurance company will normally have a standing agreement with an international funeral director in Britain to arrange repatriations. If the deceased was not covered by insurance, next of kin will need to appoint an undertaker in Colombia or an Internantional funeral director themselves. Repatriation and burial can be carried out in Colombia. The family will have to send written consent to repatriate or release the individual for local burial. It is necessary to appoint an international funeral director. There are cremation facilities available for natural deaths. Please note that repatriation of ashes is done only if the person died of a natural cause. AUTOPSIES (POST MORTEMS) Under Colombian law an autopsy is mandatory in the event of a violent death or a death where the cause is still to be established, a post-mortem examination must be carried out. It is not normal for human organs and tissue to be removed, but there is a ruling for the donation of organs and tissues for teaching and research purposes. According to current national legislation, Law 9 of 1979, Law 73 of 1988, Decree 786 of 1990 and Resolution 002640 of 2005 from the Ministry of Social Protection. Once found, the deceased should be claimed within 6 hours of encephalic death, or before the post-mortem examination is done, and the person is considered suitable to be a donor, then the Office of Forensic Medicine would proceed with organ removal. The release of any information can take many months, the documents will be in Spanish and they will be available to the family. MORTUARY FACILITIES There are normally cold storage facilities in the main cities of Colombia.
CONSULAR DEATH REGISTRATION There is no obligation for the death overseas of a British national to be registered separately in the UK. However, there are advantages to having a British form of death certificate. To register a death, please visit https://www.gov.uk/register-a-death Colombian authorities will issue a death certificate in Spanish. This is likely to take two days to issue. Death certificates no longer include the cause of death. RETURN OF PERSONAL EFFECTS An inventory is send to the relatives, and we ask that they tell us how to proceed. If they want the personal effects returned they would usually pay a private currier company. Or if we are repatriating, the undertakers will repatriate the personal effects at an extra cost. They will not take back mobile phones. POLICE/JUDICIAL ENQUIRIES Action taken in suspicious deaths and road traffic accidents are lead by Prosecutor Office who asks the Legal Forensic Department to analyze the cause of death. Once the cause of death has been established the prosecutor office will decide if the legal process should be closed or stay opened. The Prosecutor sends the process to a Judge of Knowledge, who pronounces the sentence. The Prosecutor Office will always lead an investigation with or without a report from the relatives. If the police apprehend a suspect and the State decides to prosecute the following is likely to happen: Arrest generally leads to detention in a police cell. In theory individuals should be charged within 36 hours, although they may be held without charge for three or four days. Colombian law requires that individuals be charged in front of a criminal prosecutor within 36 hours of being detained. By law, the remand period should not exceed 6 months. At the first hearing before a prosecutor individuals should be notified of your rights. In theory these are: o The right to an interpreter o The right to consult a lawyer o The right to appeal against a charge o The right to be visited at a reasonable time by a consular official, and by members of your family. o If unwell, the right to be examined by a doctor After the Prosecutor has reached a decision, he has between 18 to 24 months to resolve the case.
Categories of Charges The Penal Code recognises two types of offences, for which there are four different types of courts. The two types of offences are: contravention punishable with the lowest sentences crime punishable with more than four years imprisonment If the police do not have a suspect: The Prosecutor runs the investigation for 6 months, supported by the judicial police, who will try to identify the suspect. After 6 months if there is no suspect, the process should be filed, however it can be extended for another 6 months if requested. After one year the process will be filed. Unless a suspect appears the process won t be reopened. Legal Aid If the individual cannot afford a private lawyer, the prosecutor should appoint a public defender, but the quality varies and they usually only speak Spanish. There are some nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) in Colombia with lawyers who are prepared to work for free. UK CORONERS Upon repatriation to England or Wales, a coroner will hold an inquest only if the death was violent or unnatural, or if the death was sudden and the cause unknown. In some countries the cause of death is not given on the death certificate, and coroners do not generally have access to judicial files from other countries. Consequently coroners may order a postmortem as part of the inquest. Coroners can request copies of post-mortem and police reports from the Colombian authorities. However, these will only be provided once any judicial proceedings are completed. In some instances this can take many months. In Scotland, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) deals with the investigation of all sudden, suspicious, accidental, unexpected and unexplained deaths which occur in Scotland. However, the COPFS does not have the jurisdiction to investigate deaths that occur outside Scotland apart from a few limited circumstances. Broadly, those circumstances include terrorism, cases where the death may been caused in Scotland but the person died outside Scotland and cases where the death was a s a result of murder or culpable homicide caused by another British Citizen or subject. Coroners in Northern Ireland are not obliged to hold an inquest into cause of death. However, next of kin can apply for a judicial review if no inquest is held.