Fourteen soldiers and their colonel were sentenced to 54 years in jail Wednesday for the murder of 10 members of a National Police anti drugs squad and one informer near the town of Jamundi in 2006. The Prosecution had asked for a 60-year sentence.
The soldiers’ defense immediately announced an appeal. The soldiers had already been found guilty in February for ten accounts of aggravated murder.
They can appeal before the High Court of the Valle del Cauca department and eventually appeal before Colombia’s Supreme Court. Officials of the Prosecution have suggested links between the troops and drugs gangs operating in the region.