A witness in the case of the eleven people that disappeared from Bogotá
and Soacha and ended up dead in mass graves in the north east of
Colombia told the prosecution one army sergeant and one soldier are
responsible for the recruiting of the people.
The man initially was arrested by authorities as a suspect for the recruiting first, but was released after there was no evidence. He is now heard as a possible witness for the forced disappearances, Caracol Radio reported Tuesday.
According to the witness’ statements, the sergeant and soldier attended parties for young people to offer some of them a job. The witness says he was approached too, but couldn’t reach an agreement with the men and never went for the job.
The witness says he knew two of the men found in the mass grave in Ocaña in the north east of Colombia and described them as normal people, workers that once every so often would smoke marijuana.
The man strongly denied the kidnappings were the work of guerrillas or paramilitaries.
Ocaña authorities reported Monday that this year alone 100 unidentified bodies were buried in mass graves in the town.
Colombian vice-President Francisco Santos said an elite group will be created to investigate the disappearances and deaths of the young men, magazine Semana reported. The special team will consist of members of the judicial police and forensic attorneys.
Colombian Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos earlier announced an internal investigation about possible army involvement in the case. A total a 46 cases of people who had been killed by the army as guerrillas in combat were found on missing persons lists.