The eight members of the Colombian military who are suspected of the
‘false positive’ of Soacha want to be tried by the military justice
system instead of a criminal court. The judge denied their request.
The defense Thursday requested that appointed judge Fernando Sarmiento declared himself incompetent to take the case.
“This should be conducted by the military justice system because, under the presumption of innocence, the link of the soldiers to the military is not proven yet”, the defense justified their request.
Nevertheless, the criminal court of Soacha declared itself competent on Thursday after a three hour hearing.
The eight soldiers are accused of the murder of eight civilians in Soacha, a town close to Colombia’s capital Bogota, who they had presented as
guerrillas killed in combat.
The Prosecution indicted the members of the military for the crimes of conspiracy to
commit crime, forgery of public documents, aggravated homicide and
forced disappearance.