The Ministry of Defense and the National Police have been ordered to pay close to $250, 000 in compensation to the family of the murder victim of an infamous death squad known as “the 12 apostles” after a state council ruling was delivered on Thursday.
The murder in question took place in 1993, in the Yarumal municipality of northern department, Antioquia, and, according to the ruling; government authorities were implicit in aiding the paramilitary death group in their actions of “social cleansing.” The victim in this case was a drug addict.
There have long been voices claiming links between the notorious paramilitary activities and members of the government; critics have even suggested that former President Alvaro Uribe and his brother were implicated in the creation and maintaining of the “12 apostles” group.
MORE: ‘Uribe’s brother led paramilitary death squad’
While the state council’s report laments the fact that there is not enough evidence to condemn any one person for the murder nor invoke a penal process , citing the “incompetence” of the investigative and accusatory institutions in charge of the case, the ruling states that “several testimonies” agree the existence of the group which “in association with members of the Police, and financed by prestigious businessmen from the municipality, dedicated themselves to the displacement- or in the worst cases, the extermination- of people… considered undesirable in society.”
“Today it is undeniable that the state’s armed forces- as well as the Police-, supported and favored said operations of “social cleansing”, which was the original objective that led to the creation of paramilitary groups in the region” read the sentence.
As well as the fiscal obligations the government will now have to pay, the sentence also considers other restorative measures such as the creation of a monument in Yarumal, dedicated to the collective memory of the municipality, “so that facts like this never happen again.”
Sources
- CONDENAN AL ESTADO POR ASESINATO DE JOVEN (Consejo de Estado)
- Estado, condenado por crimen de los ‘Doce apóstoles’ (Semana)
- Condenan al Estado por homicidio cometido por integrantes de ‘Los doce apóstoles’ (W Radio)
