Just as the public prosecutor considers whether or not to pursue the judicial investigations into cases of forced sterilisation, Demus has come up with new evidence on how women were deceived into giving their assent to procedures involved.

Demus, which has been acting for victims, has shown how more than 211,000 women received incomplete information on the procedures they underwent and that at least 25,000 received no information at all. The organisation’s main lawyer, Milton Campos, has explained that, between 1996 and 1997, surgical procedures became the second most frequently used method of contraception, not the fifth as frequently claimed.

Campos hopes that the new evidence will be sufficient to take the procedure to the next level; but rather than any judgement as such, this would involve simply further investigation by the judiciary. Luis Landa, the public prosecutor, is about to announce whether there is sufficient hard evidence to take the case forward to the judiciary or whether (as his junior colleague Marcelita Gutiérrez previously recommended) the case be shelved.

The Demus findings may influence the result. Human rights defenders and victims’ groups hope a favourable ruling will be issued soon. The search for justice has been stalled since 2012.