The JEP announced that to date, 23 soldiers have already delivered their version in case 03 that investigates the “murders and forced disappearances presented as combat casualties by State agents.” In the Huila and Meta cases, six generals have been called to render their version.
Newspaper of Huila, Huila
By: Gloria Camargo
Within the framework of the investigations of Case 03, carried out by the Special Jurisdiction for Peace, JEP, it was learned that to date 28 generals have been linked in the process that investigates the so-called ‘false positives’.
It should be noted that according to the same entity, of the total, 23 have already delivered a version within the framework of the six sub-cases prioritized by the Recognition Room.
And recently, General (r) Paulino Coronado was indicted, “who acknowledged responsibility for not having taken the necessary measures to prevent the committing of the murders and forced disappearances that were presented as combat casualties in Catatumbo, when he was commander of the Brigade 30, knowing what could be happening”.
versioned generals
According to the JEP, by sub-cases, on the Caribbean Coast and Casanare, 10 generals have delivered a version, where Major General (r) Henry William Torres Escalante was accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity, given that the Chamber of Recognition determined that under his command increased the artificial presentation of operational results in this region of the eastern part of the country between 2005 and 2008.
“Furthermore, five more senior officials are preparing to deliver a version this year: Óscar Reinaldo Rey Linares, Justo Eliseo Peña Sánchez, Óscar Enrique González Peña, Hernán Giraldo Restrepo and Luis Felipe Paredes Cadena.”
On the other hand, Judge Alejandro Ramelli, rapporteur of the Huila and Meta Subcases and as one of the rapporteurs of the illustrative case of the Las Mercedes de Dabeiba Cemetery, indicated that the generals have been called versions:
Marcos Evangelista Pinto Lizarazo.
Edgar Alberto Rodriguez Sanchez.
Jaime Alonso Lasprilla Villamizar.
William Fernando Perez Laiseca.
Miguel Ernesto Perez Guarnizo
Oswaldo Pena Bermeo.
It should be remembered that “the versions that each of these senior military commanders have delivered is part of the judicial file of each of the Sub-cases of Case 03, to which they have been linked.”
Meanwhile, in the Norte de Santander Subcase, General (r) Paulino Coronado was accused of not having taken the necessary measures to prevent the committing of the murders and forced disappearances that were presented as combat casualties in Catatumbo, when he was commander of the Brigade 30.
In Antioquia, Judge Catalina Diaz called Carlos Ovidio Saavedra, Paulino Coronado, Eliber Chalarca Chalarca, Miguel Eduardo David Bastidas, Juan Pablo Forero Tascón and Pablo Alfonso Bonilla Vásquez to deliver their version. As well as General Mario Montoya Uribe.
The Case 03
The Jurisdiction that indicated that after 22 members of the public force and one civilian, in two public hearings, acknowledged to the JEP responsibility for the murders and forced disappearances presented as combat casualties by State agents, and to the Chamber for the Recognition of Truth issued the first Resolution of Conclusions.
Establishing that the judicial decisions were issued within the North Santander and Caribbean Coast sub-cases, where those accused of ‘false positives’ were nominated for the Court for Peace to impose the corresponding sanctions.
On the other hand, the Recognition Chamber announced that in the case of the Las Mercedes cemetery in Dabeiba (Antioquia) eight appearing parties acknowledged in writing their responsibility for ‘false positives.
Extrajudicial executions Huila
Information revealed by the South Colombian Observatory for Human Rights, Peace and Territory, Obsurdh, in the department of Huila documented “127 cases with 255 victims, in the municipalities of Garzón, Pitalito, Neiva, Gigante, Acevedo and Algeciras”.
The report on extrajudicial executions that was presented to the Special Jurisdiction for Peace, JEP, establishes that the events “occurred between 1984 and 2012 in Huila. However, an increase in this practice was evidenced between 2006 and 2008, when a total of 93 cases with 191 victims were identified.
For this reason, the same demand had been made that the high command of the Ninth Brigade, who were in charge of this situation in the cases reviewed, be linked to the “investigation, prosecution, and punishment processes for these events.”
The Observatory also revealed that between June 2006 and November 2007, then Colonel Jaime Lasprilla Villamizar, who has been called to testify, was in charge of the Ninth Brigade, based in Neiva, and according to the document, “under his command presumably 103 cases were presented through different units of the Ninth Brigade.”
In turn, it was established that Brigadier General William Pérez Laiseca, also called to testify, and who had served as commander of the Military Unit between November 2007 and December 2008, a period according to the report, where apparently 75 cases were presented where “youth from Pitalito, Garzón and Neiva and from the rural area of municipalities such as Pitalito, Gigante, Acevedo and Baraya, were allegedly murdered by members of the public force and who were later presented as guerrillas killed in combat or members of criminal gangs.
Among the figures revealed, it has been indicated that the municipalities where the most cases were registered were:
Pitalito with 44
Giant with 28
Garzon with 27
Acevedo with 16
Algeciras with 11
Baraya, Isnos and Timana with 10
The South Colombian Observatory for Human Rights, Peace and Territory, had also previously established that in addition to seeking reparation from the State, the objective is also that “families are recognized as victims of the armed conflict at a legal level; Second, that the high commands of both the Ninth Brigade and the military units that most carried out this type of act be linked, that is, the Magdalena and Cacique Pigoanza battalions.”