The Bogota Supreme Court on Wednesday sentenced a former National Army commander to 40 years in prison for his involvement in the 1997 Mapiripan massacre.
The court found General Jaime Humberto Uscategui guilty of being partly responsible for the massacre of 49 people who were butchered in 1997 the town of Mapiripan, in the central Colombian department of Meta.
The 40 year penalty is the highest to have ever been imposed in Colombia on an officer of Uscategui’s ranking. The general was commander of the National Army’s Seventh Brigade at the time, leading troops located in the Meta and Guaviare departments, reported Colombian media Wednesday.
In addition to the 40 year sentence, the general is required to pay a fine of 10 million pesos.
In the first appeal the judge ruled that Uscategui was unaware that some of his officers were collaborating with paramilitaries in the region at the time of the massacre but the second appeal proved otherwise and the general was given a severe sentence.
The slaughter of the 49 people was committed predominantly by the Self Defense Forces of Cordoba and Uraba (ACCU), a paramilitary group led by the then highest commander of the AUC, Carlos Castaño.