Ex-paramilitary fighter jailed for 11 years over Jineth Bedoya attack in Colombia
Ex-paramilitary fighter jailed for 11 years over Jineth Bedoya attack in Colombia
A former paramilitary fighter has been jailed for 11 years over an attack on
Colombian journalist Jineth Bedoya, pictured, in 2000 (AFP/Dalberto Roque)
New York, February 26, 2016--The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the sentencing Thursday of former paramilitary fighter Alejandro Cárdenas Orozco to 11 years in prison for the kidnap and torture of Colombian journalist Jineth Bedoya Lima in 2000.
Bedoya, who at the time of the attack was reporting on paramilitary death squads for the daily El Espectador, said she was kidnapped outside La Modelo prison in Bogotá on May 25, 2000. The assailants bound her hands and feet, taped her mouth, and blindfolded her. They then drove her to the nearby city of Villavicencio, where she was beaten and raped, according to the attorney general's office.
"It's not a day of celebration. It's a day of vindication," Bedoya told CPJ after hearing of the conviction.
Cárdenas, who goes by the alias J.J., pleaded guilty to kidnap and torture before the Special Attorney General's Office for Human Rights, according to a statement released Thursday by the attorney general. The statement said Cárdenas did not accept a charge of rape. The attorney general's statement said it would continue to investigate his alleged role in the sexual assault on Bedoya. The judge ordered Cárdenas to pay a fine of around US$17,500.
More:
https://cpj.org/2016/02/ex-paramilitary-fighter-jailed-for-11-years-over-j.php
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Alejandro Cárdenas Orozco [/center]
Colombian paramilitaries were closely affiliated with the Colombian military, sometimes combined with them in joint massacres.
