Colombian court ruling sentences 12 ex-military officers

"From 2002 to 2008, there were 6,402 recorded victims of the false positives, according to the JEP, but victim groups believe the number to be higher. Officers used the killings, which often targeted poor and disabled young people, to inflate their reputations and earn promotions during the bloody war against rebel groups, which the United States backed under Plan Colombia."

"The crimes constitute one of eleven macrocases being investigated by the JEP, which was set up following the 2016 peace deal to investigate abuses by rebels, paramilitaries, and state security forces. Earlier this week, it introduced its first individual sanctions against FARC leaders. The verdict focuses on one of three subcases within the macrocase, related to crimes committed by the La Popa Battalion on Colombia's Caribbean coast."

"The case marks a milestone in Colombia, where families of victims have waited decades for justice over the state-sanctioned killings of vulnerable loved ones. We have managed to show the country and the world that these young people were not guerrillas, that they were lured away by deception, murdered, and made to look like guerrillas, Blanca Nubia Monroy, whose son was a victim of a false positive killing, told Al Jazeera."

A special Colombian court sentenced 12 former military officers to between five and eight years of reparation work for involvement in 135 false-positive killings of civilians falsely reported as rebel fighters between 2002 and 2005. The ruling is the first time the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) issued individual sentences against government security forces for crimes in the decades-long conflict with FARC. The JEP recorded 6,402 false-positive victims from 2002 to 2008, with victim groups saying the number is likely higher. The verdict focuses on crimes by the La Popa Battalion and forms part of one of eleven macrocases under JEP investigation. Families of victims have waited decades for justice, and some survivors call reparations work insufficient punishment.

Read at www.aljazeera.com