BOGOTA, Jan 29 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Eight high-ranking members of Colombia’s now-defunct FARC guerilla movement, including serving politicians, are being charged with war crimes for kidnapping more than 21,000 people during a decades-long civil conflict, a court said.
The eight belonged to the secretariat of the FARC, its highest decision-
making body, and include Rodrigo Londono, who is now head of the Common People’s Party, the political party that arose from the FARC after the signing of the 2016 peace pact that largely ended more than 50 years of
fighting.
Also targeted are Pablo Catatumbo and Julian Gallo, who occupy two of the
ten seats reserved for the militant group-turned-political party under the
peace agreement.
Another member of the FARC high command, Ermilo Cabrera, is also on the
list, but he died on Wednesday.
“Depriving people of their liberty and placing conditions on their release
is a war crime, specifically the taking of hostages,” said Judge Julieta
Lemaitre of Colombia’s Special Jurisdiction for Peace, a tribunal created to
try FARC members and soldiers for crimes committed during the conflict.
The charge sheet also includes crimes against humanity and “other war
crimes related to the treatment of hostages, such as murder, torture, cruel
treatment, attacks on personal dignity, sexual violence and forced
displacement,” said the ruling.
The decision — the tribunal’s most far-reaching since its creation in 2017
— was made after hearing testimony from 257 ex-combatants and more than 1,000 kidnapping victims and taking into account information gathered by prosecutors.
In response, the Common People’s Party restated its remorse for acts
committed in the past, and agreed there was “no justification for robbing any person of their liberty.”
Colombian President Ivan Duque said: “We cannot have a double standard in Colombia where people who commit crimes can never again run for congress but others hold their seats despite convictions for crimes against humanity.”
Duque in 2018 led a failed bid to modify the peace accords to secure
harsher penalties for former FARC fighters.
During its prolonged battle for power, the FARC kidnapped people to extort
financial and political settlements.
The charge sheet states 21,396 people were deprived of their liberty by
FARC fighters between 1990 and 2016, “a number significantly higher than
previously thought.”
Many, including soldiers, police members or politicians such as the Franco-
Colombian Ingrid Betancourt, spent as many as ten years locked up before
being rescued or freed.
The court document said nine percent of the hostages were never seen again, and another three percent were confirmed murdered and had their remains sent to their families.
Former FARC fighters who plead guilty to the charges will not be jailed but
will receive an alternative penalty under the negotiated provisions.
Those who refute the allegations will face a criminal trial and risk prison
sentences of up to 20 years.
Last Sunday, the FARC officially changed its name to the Common People’s
Party to move away from the acronym that identified the Marxist rebel force for decades.
After the 2016 peace pact, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia
transitioned to a political party called the Common Alternative Revolutionary Force — both of which went by FARC.
The former rebels have been divided since their disarmament.
Although the majority of some 13,000 former FARC combatants and militiamen accepted the peace agreement, dissident factions have kept up or retaken arms. — NNN-AGENCIES
