At the next summit of the Organization of American States, Colombia plans to address an allegedly flawed ruling by the Inter-American Court for Human Rights regarding a 1997 massacre.
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos called the 2009 ruling, in which Colombia was condemned and sentenced to pay compensation to the families of 50 victims, a “mockery of the international human rights system,” said his website.
According to Colombia’s Prosecutor General’s Office, only 10 people were murdered in the paramilitary massacre in the town of Mapiripan. The PG’s investigation found some victims were still alive or died in other circumstances.
“It seems that more than half of the supposed victims that appear in the sentence offered by the Inter American Court of Human Rights are either alive, or did not die in the massacre, and are receiving large amounts of compensation based on lies and fraudulent proceedings,” said Santos at the president’s office.
Santos went on to condemn the actions of false victims and their lawyers, who have been receiving compensation payments after testifying in front of the international court.
The event resulted in Colombia being condemned on the international stage by the Inter America Court of Human Rights.
The Mapiripan massacre was carried out by a group of AUC paramilitaries over four days in July 1997.