Judge Edmundo Lopez now has 15 days to sentence former Lt Col Byron Carvajal and the 14 soldiers who were under his command when the policemen were killed. Prosecutors want the judge to impose the maximum of 60 years.Prosecutors said Carvajal ordered the ambush of the anti-narcotics police. He said his troops were attacking leftist rebels who were working with drugs traffickers. The authorities first said the deaths were accidental, with the soldiers mistaking the police for traffickers.Officials later said inquiries suggested links between the troops and drugs gangs operating in the region.The convictions came despite numerous attempts to subvert the trial, including a prosecutor’s offer to help the defense in exchange for more than $400,000, senior police officials and prosecutors familiar with the case told The Associated Press.The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid jeopardizing investigations, said the bribe was never paid and the prosecutor who sought it was removed from the case before he made the offer.
Soldiers guilty of murdering anti-narcotics police
