A Colombian army lieutenant was convicted Thursday of the murder of two civilians in a “false positive” case.
Army Lieutenant Jose Pena Ramirez was sentenced by a Colombian court to 43 years in prison for the aggravated murder of two youths who were later passed off as guerrillas killed in a military operation in the central Caldas department.
Court documents reported that 16-year old Yeiler Andres Cubides and 17-year old Jose David Baquero, who were recruited with false promises of work, were found dead in clothing typically worn by FARC combatants and in possession of useless long-range weapons.
Pena was also found guilty of tampering with a crime scene and falsifying a public document.
One officer and five professional soldiers have also been convicted in this case.
The Colombian Army has been rocked by the “false positives” scandal, a term used to describe the Colombian Army killing civilians and then passing them off as guerrillas to artificially boost their success rate. Hundreds of members of the Colombian armed forces have been investigated since the occurances were first uncovered in 2008.
