The US removes the FARC from the terrorism list 0:40
(CNN Spanish) --
There were more than 120 extrajudicial executions in the midst of the armed conflict in Colombia.
Only part of the more than 6,400 estimated cases throughout the country.
And in the public hearing this Tuesday, 10 retired soldiers and a civilian acknowledged having participated in them.
This case, which is aired in the municipality of Ocaña, is part of the so-called "false positives" that occurred in the Catatumbo region of the department of Norte de Santander, between January 2007 and August 2008.
It was the first hearing of acknowledgment of responsibility in the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP), whose second day takes place this Wednesday.
The JEP was born as a result of the Peace Agreement between the government and the FARC.
It is responsible for imparting justice in cases committed during the Colombian armed conflict.
In both hearings, the relatives of the victims are also heard when they demand to know who -in the government- ordered them to commit these crimes.
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In Tuesday's session, statements were heard from those accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity, who detailed how the structure that existed in various military units in the Catatumbo region worked to murder and forcibly disappear numerous civilians and then present them as casualties. in combat with state agents, a practice known as “false positives”.
"We murdered innocent people, peasants," said retired Army noncommissioned officer Néstor Guillermo Gutiérrez, in one of the speeches that most shocked the relatives of the victims present at the hearing and which was also echoed by several users on social networks.
“I executed, I murdered relatives of those who are here.
Leading them with lies, with tricks, shooting them, murdering them cruelly, cowardly.
Put a weapon on them and say a combat, a guerrilla and tarnish the name of a family, destroy that family,” Gutiérrez explained.
Another of the statements was that of Santiago Herrera, a retired Army colonel, who said that "in an irresponsible manner and without calculating the risks" he instigated his "subordinates to commit war crimes and crimes against humanity."
"These homicides of innocent civilians in a defenseless situation were false casualties in combat and had the systematic nature that constituted a criminal pattern within the brigade," added Herrera.
This Wednesday, during the second public hearing, the first person to intervene was Carmenza Gómez, mother of Víctor Fernando Gómez Romero, who disappeared on August 23, 2008 and was found dead two days later in Ocaña.
She and her family lived in the municipality of Soacha when they found out that her son had been identified as a guerrilla fallen in combat.
“It makes me sad, it makes me sad that for some bad guys they damaged an entire institution.
The people who should have taken care of us, an entire citizenry.
They hurt us and a lot to the mothers, to the neighborhood, to the community.
So, today I do ask you the great favor of telling the truth.
Say it, but with proper names,” Gómez said.
As reported by the JEP in a statement, on May 31, as well as on June 2 and 6 in Bogotá, the secretariat of the extinct FARC will have its recognition hearing for its responsibility in kidnapping cases.
"The Chamber charged them with the crime against humanity of serious deprivation of liberty and the war crime of taking hostages, as well as other crimes committed in relation to the kidnappings, such as homicide, forced disappearance, torture, cruel treatment, sexual violence and forced displacement," the statement detailed.
They explained in the document that after these recognition hearings, it is expected that in July the JEP will issue the first resolution of conclusions so that the Court of Peace can impose the corresponding sanctions.
In July 2021, the JEP charged 11 people with war crimes and crimes against humanity for their alleged participation in extrajudicial executions in the Catatumbo region.
The decision was made within "Case 03" that the JEP opened in 2018 and arises from a report by the Colombian Attorney General's Office on "false positives", which investigates "deaths unlawfully presented as combat casualties by state agents."
According to the JEP, at least 120 dead were presented as combat casualties in this case to "criminally increase the official statistics of military success."
During this period, the country was under the command of President Álvaro Uribe, who has not only questioned the credibility of the court, but has also denied having ordered assassinations.
Uribe has said that during his government he confronted and sanctioned "all human rights violations."