Man gets 40 years for false positive murders

[Judi Lynn]

Man gets 40 years for false positive murders
Thursday, 01 September 2011 15:14
Alice Boyd

A Colombian man was sentenced to 40 years imprisonment Thursday for recruiting two men from the town of Soacha who were later registered by the army as guerrillas killed in combat.

The convict was found guilty of aggravated homicide, forced disappearance and conspiracy to commit crimes. According to the judge's verdict, the man was part of a group of recruiters "dedicated to finding and taking young people from Soacha to Ocaña who later appeared lifeless after alleged combat with the army."

The Soacha case was the first of dozens of "false positives" cases revealed by prosecutors.

The term "false positives" refers to the killing of innocent civillians in order to present them posthumously as guerillas killed in combat by the armed forces. So far, nearly 3,500 members of the Colombian security forces are implicated in the death of some 2,000 Colombian civilians.

http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/18726-army-recruiter-gets-40-years-for-false-positive-murders.html