Two members of Colombia’s armed forces were sentenced to 28 years in jail on Thursday for murdering innocent civilians and presenting the bodies as guerrillas killed in action, reports Colombian media.
Sergeant Luis Fernando Castañeda Arredondo and Private Marco Vinicio Villegas Cervantes were found guilty of the “false positive” murder of two civilians in 2006, on the road between the northern cities of Monteria and Sincelejito.
According to Monteria’s Special Court, the soldiers tempted the men away from their homes in the department of Antioquia with the promise of work. The civilians were then murdered and presented to military authorities as guerrillas killed in action.
The court concluded that the murdered civilians had posed no threat to the army.
Castañeda and Villegas each received a sentence of 336 months in prison.