A judge has sentenced 15 members of Colombia’s military to between
four and 30 years in prison for killing two civilians whom they tried to disguise as
rebels killed in combat, prosecutors said on Saturday.
An officer, three of his subordinates and six rank-and-file troops were found
to have masterminded or taken part in the plot to kill the two young men in the
city of Medellin in May 2006, a statement said.
Five other troops were found to have covered up details related to the case,
for which they were sentenced to four years in prison.
The young men were restaurant workers who went missing on their way home from
work on May 25 2006 in Medellin; their bodies turned up the following day labelled
as killed in combat by an infantry battalion.
The case was one of the highest profile of a series of so-called “false
positive” scandals in which authorities were accused of carrying out
extrajudicial killings to claim successes in their fight against rebels. (AFP)