A Colombian criminal court convicted seven army officials for the murder of another soldier, W Radio reported Tuesday.
According to the court, the men killed the newly-recruited soldier, dressed him as a guerilla in order to boost the military’s enemy kill count and then forged public documents to cover up the affair.
The investigation shows that the young man had been recruited by security forces in the town of Soacha in the central department of Cundinamarca.
The victim was then transferred to the town of Ocana in the department Norte de Santander, along the northern Venezuelan border, where he was found dead.
The convicted are a major who was sentenced to 51 years in prison for the crimes of forced displacement and homicide, a lieutenant, sentenced to 52 years for forgery, homicide and forced displacement, a corporal and two soldiers who recieved 32-year sentences for homicide and four soldiers that were sentenced to 35 years also for homicide.
The phenomenon of the Colombian army disguising murdered civilians as guerrillas to increase kill counts is popularly known as “false positives.”
