Colombia’s defense minister will present a plan on Monday that will advance judicial progress in the country’s various “false positive” cases, and aims to prevent further delays from occurring, newspaper El Tiempo reported.
Defense Minister Rodrigo Rivera told El Tiempo that he will present a series of 15 measures that, if implemented, would ensure that justice is served in the numerous cases of “false positive” killings, or extra-judicial killings of civilians by military forces, that have yet to be resolved.
“The fight against impunity is not work exclusive to the bodies that administrate justice, but also an objective of the state,” said Rivera, requesting assistance from the military leadership and the police to provide information that will further the judicial processes.
The minister has chosen to become involved in the process of examining the situations of the “false positive” cases, which may have involved officials, sub-officials and soldiers from more than seven of the country’s brigades.
“For the ministry, the rapid administration of justice and the fight against impunity constitute fundamental strategies for the prevention of violations,” added the minister.
Although the U.N. commended Colombia’s progress against impunity as recently as May, the significant number of unresolved “false positive” cases caused Prosecutor General Viviane Morales to speak out in early June against “repeated and systematic” delay tactics employed by the military.
