Three soldiers have been sentenced to 40 years in prison for murdering two minors and reporting them as members of a criminal gang, Caracol Radio reported Tuesday.
The judge found Jamie Alonso Pinto Colenarse, Carlos Mario Escudero Cano, and Dixon Arturo Mena guilty of abducting and killing a 14 year old and 17 year old in the municipality of Urrao in the Antioquia department.
According to Colombia’s human rights prosecutor, the soldiers murdered the children and placed a rifle, a revolver and a grenade at the scene of the murder to make it seem as if the children were carrying them.
Witnesses and relatives of the victims testified to the prosecutor that the two minors were abducted by troops and forced to carry backpacks to the place where they were killed.
According to NGOs, more than 3,700 civilians have been murdered by the military since 2002. Judicial authorities are investigating at least 1,000 cases of extrajudicial murders.