Colombian court has convicted soldiers of killing civilians 120 | Conflicting Issues

The Peace Court has convicted 10 Colombian members of killing at least 120 people and falsely accused them of being militants.

A Colombian court has convicted 10 civilians and civilians of forcing 24 people dead and killing at least 120 people and falsely claiming to be war veterans.

This is the first time that the Special Court for Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) in Bogota has accused members of the military of engaging in so-called “False” deception.

JEP, which investigates crime and violence in the last 50 years in the country, ruled earlier this year that Colombian troops have committed at least 6,400 attacks and handed them over if they fought in the war between 2002 and 2008.

The court said Tuesday that the militants played a key role in the massacre, which was described as a war in Catatumbo district in the Norte de Santander region of Colombia between January 2007 and August 2008.

Today from the Bogota office: Colombian peace court convicted 10 officers of killing 120 civilians in 2007 and 2008, the first time a court has ordered a military strike, and @ACOSTALUISJAIME https://t.co/SiQMyfxgY1

– Julia Symmes Cobb (@JSymmesCobb) July 6, 2021

Defendants, identified by the JEP as law enforcement officers without criminal offenses, had a senior, six supervisors, three non-commissioned officers, and civilians.

“It was a process of macrocriminality, that is, repetition of at least 120 people in two years in the same region by the same terrorist group and following the same modus operandi,” said magistrate Catalina Diaz on Tuesday.

The court was formed under a 2016 peace agreement to overthrow former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and Colombian military leaders over war crimes.

Many military officers have been detained and convicted by Colombian courts on a regular basis for their killings and have testified before the JEP as they seek more cases.

If the defendants on Tuesday do not plead guilty within 30 days, they could face up to 20 years in state prison, said magistrate and JEP president Eduardo Cifuentes.

Juan Pappier, an investigator for Human Rights Watch in Colombia, said the court’s announcement “confirms victims and human rights groups who have been fighting for justice for more than a decade,” the New York Times reported.

Human rights groups have long argued that the practice of killing and representing civilians as militants was more common than the Colombian government acknowledged.

The 2018 report, compiled by sources and independent investigations, states that more than 10,000 people were killed during the inauguration of former President Alvaro Uribe.

When the army officer denied the existence a straightforward plan in raising the number of left-wing rebels and so-called “false positives”, the military and the authorities have told the court that the authorities are pressuring them to improve the visibility of the civil war in the civil war.