Colombia’s Supreme Judicial Council Wednesday said that all false positives cases would be heard by the ordinary courts rather than by military courts.
The president of the Disciplinary Chamber of the High Court, Judge Ovidio Claros, said that the decision was made following a conflict of interest in the false positives case of Soacha, reported news source CMI.
A civilian killed in Soacha was falsely reported as a guerrilla killed in combat, and his body was found two months later in the department of Santander.
The legal argument, according to Claros, is that there are doubts as to whether the events occurred as military service, which should be decided by an ordinary judge, not military courts.
He also said that if attempts to delay the proceedings continued, disciplinary and legal action would be taken against the lawyers doing so. He was referring to the accusations of the Soacha civilian’s mother that the defense team of the soldiers involved is attempting to delay proceedings until the fixed limit for the maximum time allowed for the trial is exceeded, ensuring that the soldiers go free.
Colombia’s military courts have long been accused by NGOs of leaving crimes committed by members of the military impune.
