Colombian peace tribunal charges 19 soldiers of crimes against humanity for 300 civilian killings

Colombia's new special peace tribunal created to investigate atrocities during the country's decades-long conflict between the government and leftist guerillas charged 19 soldiers on Monday with war crimes and crimes against humanity for  killing civilians, purportedly, only to report more rebel deaths.

According to AFP, the Special Jurisdiction for Peace’s (JEP) charges are related to the killing of 303 people, mostly civilians, between 2005 and 2008. The group includes a general and five colonels, all now retired.

The deaths are being viewed as “false positives,” in which the military killed civilians to present as guerilla fighters to show progress against the rebels, which helped them earn promotions and other perks.

The JEP was developed as part of the landmark September 2015 agreement on transitional justice, based on an ideology of 'restorative justice' aimed at putting victims first over punishing perpetrators. A revised deal passed Colombia’s legislature in 2016 and the tribunal was officially opened in March 2018 with the goal of investigating atrocities committed by both sides.

The magistrates of the tribunal said the charged soldiers belonged to the 16th Brigade, in which "a criminal organization" killed and falsely presented civilians as guerrillas and criminals who "had fallen in combat.”

Some victims had been plied with alcohol and drugs.

In exchange, the soldiers received "permits, special food, holiday plans, training classes abroad and recognition" to accelerate their promotion, the tribunal said.

When Alvaro Uribe was president, the Colombian military killed more than 6,400 people between 2002 to 2008, according to the JEP.

The accused soldiers can accept or reject the accusations. They can avoid prison time if they confess and make reparations or face up to 20 years in jail if they plead not guilty.

In late June, a Truth Commission presented its conclusive report on the country’s armed conflict based on interviews with 30,000 war victims, military leaders, former guerilla fighters and five former Colombian presidents.

The 900-page report said that over 50,000 people were kidnapped between 1990 and 2018, mostly by rebels as hostages.

It also reported more than 56,000 people were killed by Colombia’s armed forces, including 6,300 “false positives” presented as rebel fighters.