Colombian police arrested a Medellín army lieutenant who is suspected of being
responsible for the murder of a 16-year old girl and the report of her
death as a combat kill, newspaper El Espectador reported Wednesday.
The so called ‘false positives‘ –the killing of civilians and report them as combat kills– has already led to the sacking of three generals, 24 lower ranked army officials and made Colombia’s army chief Mario Montoya resign, but the Prosecution says it is investigating more than a 1,000 possible cases of security officials murdering civilians.
The arrested lieutenant is led the army patrol that murdered the 16-year-old Luz Stelli Morales Ariasin the home of her sister on September 18, 2003. The next day the dead girl was reported as a guerrilla killed in combat.
The Colombian Government downplays the responsibility of the army in the murder of civilian killings and blames the FARC of murdering the civilians to discredit the army.
Human rights groups have denounced the ‘false positives’ for years and the United Nations called the practice “widespread and systematic” and threatened it could ask the International Criminal Court to investigate the cases if Colombia proves unwilling or unable to bring those guilty to justice.