Families of victims of extrajudicial executions committed by Colombian soldiers have asked perpetrators to reveal who ordered the murders during the latest public hearing of the country's transitional justice court.
Retired general Paulino Coronado gestures during a hearing organised by the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) in Ocana, Colombia, this week. Photo: AFP
The so-called "false positive" killings, when soldiers murdered at least 6402 people and recorded them as guerrillas killed in combat in order to earn promotions and other rewards, are one of Colombia's most notorious human rights violations.
Dozens of former officials, including retired general Paulino Coronado, have already admitted their responsibility in the killings, which took place between 2002 and 2008 during the administration of former President Alvaro Uribe.
One civilian and 10 retired soldiers, including Coronado, testified yesterday and today as part of a series of hearings by the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) tribunal in the city of Ocana, in Norte de Santander province.
They took responsibility and asked forgiveness for the deaths of at least 120 people.
"Don't take the fall, don't allow other people to remain free and you stay with this weight, tell us who gave the order to murder our sons," said Blanca Nubia Monroy, the mother of victim Julian Oviedo.
Many of those killed were lured to Norte de Santander with false promises of work.
"With great pain for the abominable crimes committed by my subordinates, from my heart I present my regret for not having acted more diligently," said Coronado, the highest-ranking official to admit his role in the killings.
Rights groups say the total number of false positive victims may be much higher than that used by the JEP.
"I planned and delivered weapons so that innocent young men, with dreams, who were loved by their mothers, by their siblings, by their wives, by their children, were murdered and reported as killed in combat, as operational results," said retired Sargent Sandro Mauricio Perez, calling himself "a monster" who committed the crimes to please superiors.
Dozens of ex-officials accused and convicted in false positive cases have testified before the JEP, created under a 2016 peace deal with the Farc rebels to try former combatants, in the hopes of receiving lighter sentences in exchange for full disclosure of their crimes.
The JEP can impose alternative sentences of up to eight years, to be served outside traditional prisons.
Former Colombian president Álvaro Uribe Vélez speaks onstage during the 2022 Concordia Lexington Summit. Photo: AFP
Meanwhile, a Colombian judge today dismissed a request by the attorney general's office to shelve a witness-tampering investigation against Uribe.
The decision by Judge Carmen Helena Ortiz revives a long-running and deeply polarising investigation, which saw the attorney general's office ask last year for a hearing on curtailing the probe, after it found Uribe's conduct did not constitute a crime.
"It is clear for the chambers that there exists a possible hypothesis about the material nature of the crime of bribery," Ortiz said during the hearing. "The chambers rejects the petition for preclusion of the investigation for the crimes of penal bribery and procedural fraud."
Conviction in the case could mean a prison term of up to 12 years for the former president.
-Reuters