The International Criminal Court (ICC) is currently studying a possible case against former president Alvaro Uribe for his alleged role in the extrajudicial killing of 3,000 innocent civilians who security forces presented as left-wing rebels killed in combat.
Uribe, who was president between 2002 and 2010 when most of these killings took place, is being considered for investigation by the prosecutor of the ICC for alleged human rights violations committed during his administration. Violations which still have not been investigated by the Colombian justice system, reported Spanish newspaper Publico.
One of the most notorious accusations against Uribe refers to the so-called “false positives” scandal, or the murder of civilian peasants and urban poor who were portrayed as FARC guerrillas killed in action. According to Uribe, the false positive cases were “isolated events,” although the ICC said more than 3,000 cases had been brought before them from Colombian prosecutors.
“There are probable reasons to believe that it was a state policy, these assassinations, committed to increase the [indications] of military success, could be considered crimes against humanity,” said the ICC.
The latest of the accusations against Uribe in front of the ICC has been personally presented by Ivan Cepeda, a Colombian representative from the leftist Polo Democratico party. Cepeda denounced “deeds [ordered] by secret services which were completely dependent on the ex-president Uribe and constituted persecution against [the] opposition, magistrates, politicians and journalists against which [Uribe] ordered illegal telephone interventions [wiretaps], searches and campaigns, which…constitutes persecution for political motives.”
Some of these persecutions, like the one which resulted in the imprisonment of Jorge Noguera, the ex-chief of the Colombian Security Agency (DAS), ended with the assassination of opposition members by paramilitary assassins who acted with information handed to them by DAS, claimed Cepeda.
Noguera is currently serving a 25-year prison sentence for conspiracy to commit aggravated crimes and conspiracy to commit murder.
Uribe is also being considered for investigation for allegations that he was integral in forming a paramilitary bloc while he was governor of the Antioquia department. Despite the investigations, Uribe is currently forming a new political party, Pure Democratic Center, and is plotting a 2014 senate campaign.
MORE: Paramilitary Bloc born in Uribe’s estate: Ex-paramilitary
The former president is a vocal critic of current Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos and the ongoing peace talks between rebel group FARC and the government in Havana, Cuba.
