Human rights court rules against Colombia in killing of Indian activist

[Judi Lynn]

Source: International Herald Tribune/Associated Press

Human rights court rules against Colombia in killing of Indian activist
The Associated Press
Published: August 8, 2007

BOGOTA, Colombia: Colombia must pay US$232,000 (€168,000) to the family of an Indian activist tortured and killed by army officers in 1988, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ordered.

The July 4 ruling was made public by the victim's lawyers on Wednesday, a day before the United Nations was set to mark the International Day of the World's Indigenous People.

The judgment, which cannot be appealed, is the seventh in the last two years against Colombia by the Costa Rica-based court, which investigates human rights violations when justice cannot be guaranteed in national courts.

According to the court's sentence, German Escue Zapata was abducted from his reservation home in southwest Colombia by several army officers on Feb. 1, 1988, after an informant told the army he was stockpiling weapons for leftist rebels.

After being beaten with the butt of a gun, he was killed with several gunshots by Capt. Roberto Camacho Riano, commander of a local anti-guerrilla unit, and his body abandoned on a mountain road, according to other officer witnesses.



Read more: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/08/08/america/LA-GEN-Colombia-Indian-Killing.php