A Bucaramanga Administrative Court has ordered the Colombian state to pay compensation to the victims of a 1999 plane hijacking carried out by the ELN, Caracol Radio reported Friday.
Aerocivil, the state’s civil aviation authority, has been deemed partially responsible for the hijacking of the Avianca plane which took place on April 12 on a flight between Bucaramanga and Bogota.
The state has been ordered to pay more than $80,000 in damages to several victims, after Aerocivil was found to have “failed to comply with various aeronautical regulations,” according to attorney Harold Penagos.
Hernando Molina Cartagena, alias “Pablito,” the leader of the
ELN’s “Dario Ramirez Castro” Front who was suspected of ordering the hijacking, was caught on May 11 in the northern department of Bolivar.