Colombian prosecutors have sought to establish whether there were any irregularities in identifying victims of the 1997 Mapiripan slaughter, by interrogating alleged “false victims”.
Colombia’s Prosecutor General Viviane Morales cited six people to be questioned during the first week of December who were identified as victims of the slaughter perpetrated by paramilitary groups that were supported by Colombia’s Armed Forces.
The prosecution aims to prove whether or not these people are guilty of procedural fraud, perjury, and embezzlement by appropriation.
On October 25, a prosecutor for Justice and Peace said that the total number of victims was actually 13 and not 53 as originally stated in the ruling of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights against the State in 2005.
According to the Prosecutor General’s Office, victims that were presumed murdered in the massacre have turned up alive, or were confirmed to have died in separate circumstances, yet the families of these “false victims” still received compensation.