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ReutersColombia ordered to pay millions in massacre case
11 Jun 2007 18:45:43 GMT
Source: Reuters
Colombia displacement
More By Hugh Bronstein
BOGOTA, June 11 (Reuters) - In a ruling hailed as a landmark by human rights advocates, the Colombian government has been ordered to pay damages over a 1989 massacre of state investigators by army-backed militias.
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights ordered more than $5 million in damages be paid to relatives of 12 investigators killed by right-wing paramilitaries in the northern hamlet of La Rochela.
The decision, which cannot be appealed, marks the first time the state has been found guilty of involvement in the murder of its own agents.
"The ruling shows that the state not only lacked the will to confront the paramilitaries, but that some officials colluded with them against the government's own investigators," said Michael Camilleri, who worked on the case for the Center for Justice and International Law in Washington.
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