Commanders of Colombia’s ‘battalion of death’ arrested for killing 72

[Judi Lynn]

Commanders of Colombia’s ‘battalion of death’ arrested for killing 72
Posted by Adriaan Alsema on Jun 9, 2015

The entire former command of an army battalion based in Medellin is investigated for the alleged killing of more than 70 civilians who were dressed up as guerrillas and secured numerous honors for the unit.

According to weekly Semana, all five then-commanders of the Pedro Nel Ospina battalion, a unit belonging to the 4th Brigade stations in Medellin, are investigated for the murder of 72 people between 2006 and 2007, the years in which the military committed most “false positives,” or extrajudicial killings of more than 4,000 civilians.

Over the past few months and out of sight from the media, prosecution officials arrested the unit’s then-commander, the second-in-command, the operations chief and two assistant operation chiefs of the unit. All five suspects are ranked colonel.

The Pedro Nel Ospina battalion is responsible for security in the Comuna 13, a district in the east of Medellin, and the Oriente region of Antioquia, one of the hardest hit by the military killings that has left hundreds of soldiers in prison.

More:
http://colombiareports.com/commanders-of-colombias-battalion-of-death-arrested-for-killing-72/

[Judi Lynn]

1. Colombia: 5 Colonels Charged for 'False Positives' Killings

Colombia: 5 Colonels Charged for 'False Positives' Killings
Published 10 June 2015

Only five other military officials have been condemned so far, in a scandal that killed almost 5,000 Colombian citizens. Court hearings for five colonels were held on Monday in the in the cities of Bogota, the capital, and Medellin, over the murders of 72 civilians committed between 2006 and 2007.

The colonels, arrested between March and April of this year, when the hearings against them started. Commander Edgar Avila, Second Commander Jose Zanguna Duarte, as well as Heads of Operations Diego Padilla, Raul Huertas and Carlos Cadena all belonged to the “Pedro Nel Ospina” Battalion based in Medellin.

The accused colonels allegedly hunted, kidnapped, and murdered vulnerable people, mostly from campesino families, in an attempt to plant weapons near their corpses so the soldiers could claim they were guerrilla fighters. Corrupt operations like this, known as “false positives” in the army's record of guerrilla killings, were unveiled by a long-running meticulous investigation by the leading attorney of the Human Rights Unit in Medellin, Luis Fernando Zapata.

Human rights organizations estimate the Colombian army murdered about 4,300 civilians under the government of far-right former President Alvaro Uribe, which had implemented a policy setting “kill targets” in exchange of merits and promotions.

More:
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Colombia-5-Colonels-Charged-for-False-Positives-Killings--20150610-0122.html