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Colombian Soldiers Sentenced for Executions
Bogota - At least four Colombian soldiers involved in
the extrajudicial executions of two innocent people,
passed as criminals killed in combat, were sentenced
to 35 years in prison.
The ruling, issued by the criminal court of the
Yarumal municipal circuit (Antioquia department),
establishes imprisonment for soldiers Diomedes
Rafael Carey, Luis Fernando Betancur, Santiago de
Jesus Escudero and Carlos Enrique Zabala, all
members of an anti-guerrilla group of the Girardot
Battalion's 4th Brigade.
As proven during trial, these soldiers killed
engineer Gonzalo Correa and his friend Mauricio Mazo
in a rural area of Yarumal. They were presented as
killed in action, when they allegedly were returning
after collecting a sum worth millions, without any
identification.
However, the District Attorney's Office managed to
verify the testimonies of the military involved in
this extrajudicial execution. The extrajudicial
executions have been an almost systematic practice
in Colombia in the last few years, UN Special
Rapporteur Philip Alston said recently.
In a report, the UN official added that the
government policy of incentives to soldiers who hand
over the bodies and weapons of members of illegal
armed groups is the main factor encouraging the
killing of civilians to pass them off as guerrillas.
An additional problem is that survivors or families
of the victims are subject to systematic harassment
by military forces, he warned.
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