Remains of nine of the cafeteria workers at the Palace of Justice drama
that disappeared after the army stormed the building to end a guerrilla
occupation are in a laboratory of the National University in Bogotá,
retired army colonel Alfonso Plazas Vega said Monday.
The retired colonel is currently on trial in Bogotá for his alleged involvement in the disappearance of the civilians.
According to Plazas, the bodies of 22 unidentified people that died during the siege are currently kept in the laboratory, Caracol Radio reported Monday.
The colonel has no understanding for what he considers a political trial. “In the Palace of Justice there were no missing persons. All died on the fourth floor on the first day. This is the biggest fraud trial in the history of Colombia,” the former military said.
During the trial, the judge revealed a report on alleged death threats against one of the key witnesses in the trial against the colonel.The the threatened witness, an army officer, had told the court he had heard the colonel order to “hang” some hostages.
The Palace of Justice drama is one of the bloodiest in Colombian history. Approximately 100 people died during an M19 occupation and the following army siege. Nearly half of the Supreme Court magistrates died and eleven civilians went missing.
Update (6:44PM)
Bogotá’s National University acknowledges the remains of victims of the Palace of Justice attack are in it’s laboratory, but adds they were only brought there in 1998 by the Prosecution to help identify the corpses. They were asked to do so by the Association of Relatives of Disappeared, Terra reported Monday.