An ex-paramilitary commander was sentenced on Thursday to 13 years in prison after admitting responsibility for aggravated murder amongst other crimes.
Former AUC commander Jorge Ivan Laverde Zapata, alias “El Iguano,” leader of the AUC’s Catatumbo Bloc or fighting division, was sentenced on Thursday to 13 years for aggravated murder and forced disappearances.
Newspaper El Espectador reported Zapata had accepted the crimes of which he was accused.
According to research carried out by Colombia’s technical investigation agency, Zapata’s strand of the paramilitary force was responsible for the kidnapping and later assassination of Jesus Rozo Jaimes from the small village of Palmarito near the Colombian/Venezuelan border.
Zapata is currently being detained in a maximum security prison in Itagui, in the central northwestern department of Antioquia.
For the same crime demobilized paramilitary member Jimmy Viloria Velasquez, alias “Jairo Sicario,” was also arrested and awaits sentencing.