8 Colombia soldiers arrested in deepening ‘false positives’ scandal
8 Colombia soldiers arrested in deepening ‘false positives’ scandal
Mar 5, 2014 posted by Mimi Yagoub
~snip~
Eight Colombian military personnel were arrested Wednesday for the alleged extrajudicial killing of two civilians, in what is the latest episode in the ongoing “false positives” saga. The killings took place in 2006, the height of a notorious military practice in which soldiers murdered civilians and disguised their bodies as rebel combatants in exchange for bonuses and paid vacations.
In 2013, a report by the Prosecutor General’s Office stated that of the 4,373 people implicated in extrajudicial killings, 1,948 had been charged, while 230 mostly low-ranking military personnel had been sentenced to prison.
False positives
The practice of disguising the execution of civilians by security forces as combat kills is a phenomenon that reached its peak in Colombia during the presidency of Alvaro Uribe, which lasted from 2002 to 2010.
During Uribe’s two terms as Colombian president, the number of extrajudicial killings by the Armed Forces rose 154%, according to a 2013 report by the Universities of Sabana and Externado. The rate increased from 0.11 per 100,000 inhabitants between 1990 and 1999 to 0.28 between 2000 and 2009. It was revealed that it was common for soldiers to kill civilians, dress them as guerrilla fighters and present their bodies as combat kills, reportedly in return for bonuses and paid vacations.
More:
http://colombiareports.co/8-colombia-soldiers-arrested-unending-false-positives-scandal/
