Two police officers suspected of brutally arresting a man, whose death a few hours later sparked riots in Colombia for three days, have been charged with "
torture and aggravated homicide
", the Colombian prosecutor's office announced on Friday (September 18th).
Read also: Colombia: the government asks for "forgiveness", new calls to demonstrate
According to the prosecutor Francisco Barbosa, the two police officers were arrested and a request for imprisonment will be formulated.
Five other police officers are also under investigation.
The causes of the death of the father of two children aged 11 and 15, which occurred on September 9 in the hospital where he was admitted after being taken to a police station, are still not officially known.
The family's defense accuses the police of having "
massacred
" him by beating him up.
The broadcast of a video of the arrest of Javier Ordoñez, 43, led to several days of protests against police violence last week that resulted in the deaths of 12 people, mostly young people fatally injured by guns .
258 civilians were injured in clashes
It showed two helmeted Colombian police bikers administering several long shocks to the man on the ground with their pulse pistols.
"
Please stop,
" we hear repeatedly this engineer who was completing his law studies.
At first, police said the officers were dispatched after a disorder caused by "
alcoholic people
" and that Javier Ordoñez tried "
to hit the police
" before being
knocked
to the ground.
The Minister of Defense, who supervises the police in this country marked by a long armed conflict, then asked "
forgiveness
" for "
any violation of the law or ignorance of the regulations
" on the part of the police.
According to the authorities, 258 civilians were injured during the clashes that broke out in Bogota, but also in Medellin (north-west) or Cali (south-west).
Some 315 police officers were also injured and 95 police stations vandalized.
The mayor of Bogota, Claudia Lopez, denounced the use of "
a disproportionate use of force
" by the police with "
their service weapons
".
Police said 58 of them are under investigation on suspicion of shooting protesters.