Colombian guerrilla group FARC wants a possible peace deal with the government to include judicial mechanisms granting them pardon and amnesty for their crimes, and shield them from extradition to the United States.
In an interview with newscast Noticias Uno, FARC negotiator Andres Paris said that “at the table we must construct a new legal framework that includes the amnesties, that includes the pardons and that includes foremost the judicial forms, the political forms that allow the insurgent force to transform” to a political organization.
According to Paris, pending legislation that defines the legal framework in the case of the demobilization and integration of illegal armed groups is not sufficient for the FARC to give up weapons.
Additionally, the FARC negotiator said “we do not accept” the extradition of FARC leaders to the United States where some face drug trafficking and kidnapping charges.
Paris said that “it is more probable that [former President Alvaro] Uribe Velez” is extradited “than guerrilla commanders.”
The FARC — former in 1964 — will begin peace talks with the government in the Norwegian capital of Oslo on October 8.
