Colombia’s Inspector General ordered the dismissal and of 12 professional soldiers in relation to the murder of a civilian.
11 of the soldiers also face a 15-year ban from the army and the other soldier, a second lieutenant at the time of the murder, was given a 20-year ban.
The soldiers in December 2006 murdered the civilian, who was not directly involved in the conflict, and presented him to the military as a member of the guerrilla group ELN.
The inspector ruled that the murder was a grave error that the soldiers committed consciously and voluntarily with the intention of deceit.
Thousands of Colombian civilians were killed, dressed up in guerrilla uniforms and presented to the army as rebels, a scandal referred to a “false positives”. Alvaro Uribe’s government denied the killings of citizens until 2008 when evidence linked the unidentified bodies of supposed rebels with missing civilians.
