On February 23 and 24, at a public hearing in Villavicencio, the victims accredited before the JEP in Case 03, which investigates the murders and forced disappearances presented as combat casualties by State agents, will present their observations and truth demands on the 68 versions delivered by those appearing before the Jurisdiction against at least 70 crimes documented so far.
The victims and their legal representatives will express their opinions regarding the versions rendered by the members of the Infantry Battalion No. 21 ‘Batalla Pantano de Vargas’, a military structure prioritized by the Chamber for the Recognition of Truth and Responsibility, due to the significant increase in deaths illegitimately presented as combat casualties between 2002 and 2007. The versions were given by a major general, three colonels, a lieutenant colonel, among other officers and non-commissioned officers submitted to this Jurisdiction.
The definition of the provisional universe of facts of the Meta Subcase occurred in the midst of evaluating the evidence collected by the JEP, which, among other things, includes four reports provided by organizations of victims, human rights, and the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation , as well as the judicial comparison of the JEP with processes of the ordinary and military criminal courts.
Likewise, the Truth Recognition Room inspected more than a hundred files belonging to the Infantry Battalion No. 21 ‘Batalla Pantano de Vargas’. These official documents include operational program books, tactical missions, agendas, operational radiograms, and the folders of military operations in which false ‘combat casualties’ were reported.
The observation hearing directs the participation of the victims towards the early restoration of their fundamental rights. According to the Appeals Section of the JEP, the memory of the victims is essential to accurately determine the time, place, perpetrators and circumstances in which international crimes were perpetrated, to clarify the motivations of their perpetrators, the context or the plan in which the attacks were inserted, which are key elements for the process of contrasting the investigation.
Lastly, the judicial proceeding will help to give a face to the victims, to their suffering, to their claims, and it will also expose the individual, family and community damage caused by those appearing with their actions. In this sense, while in the voluntary versions the voice of those appearing was heard, in the observation hearings it is the victims who have the floor.
Source: Special Jurisdiction for Peace