Colombian court ruling sentences 12 ex-military officers

Between 2002 and 2005, a special Colombian court sentenced 12 former military officers to five to eight years of reparation work for their part in 135 “false positive” deaths, which involved killing civilians before falsely identifying them as rebel fighters.

The transitional justice system’s Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) has for the first time sentenced government security forces for crimes committed during the decades-long conflict with FARC rebels that ended in 2016.

According to the JEP, there were 6, 402 recorded victims of the “false positives” between 2002 and 2008. However, victim groups believe the figure is higher.

During the bloody conflict against rebel groups, which the United States supported under Plan Colombia, officers used the killings, which frequently targeted poor and disabled young people, to improve their reputation and get promotions.

One of the eleven “macrocases” being looked into by the JEP, which was established in response to the 2016 peace agreement to look into abuses by rebels, paramilitaries, and state security forces, are the crimes. It imposed its first individual sanctions on FARC leaders earlier this week.

One of the three macrocase subcases involving crimes committed by Colombia’s Caribbean coast, “La Popa” Battalion, is at the center of the verdict.

In Colombia, victims’ families have waited for decades for justice after the state-sanctioned killings of vulnerable loved ones. This case represents a milestone.

According to Blanca Nubia Monroy, whose son was the victim of a “false positive” killing, “we have managed to show the country and the world that these young people were not guerrillas,” she told Al Jazeera.

She argued, however, that reparations are insufficient punishment and that the commanders should “pay for what they did to these young people” by putting them to prison.

denying involvement in murders

By revealing their involvement in the killings, the 12 officers found guilty of avoiding prison. Together with victims, they will work on six different reparation projects.

According to Gerson Arias, a conflict and security investigator at the Colombian think tank Ideas for Peace Foundation, “This decision ultimately recognizes that we can reduce impunity for serious human rights violations.”

Three Battalion members, including Colonel Publio Hernan Mejia, the leader, and other members of the organization, allege they were responsible for the killings and are currently facing additional trials and possible 20-year jail sentences.