The Superior Court of Bogota has upheld a sentence condemning FARC leader alias “El Paisa” to 40 years in prison for a 2003 car bomb which killed 36 people.
Hernan Dario Velasquez, alias “El Paisa” or “Oscar Moreno,” is currently the leader of the FARC’s Teofilo Forero column, who have been most recently accused of perpetrating several attacks in the southern Colombian department of Caqueta, as well as the high-profile kidnapping of three Chinese oil workers and a Colombian interpreter.
The 40-year sentence, issued in absentia, is for the February 2003 car bombing in the north Bogota parking lot of the popular El Nogal nightclub. The incident left 36 people dead.
El Paisa was convicted for the crimes of “terrorism, aggravated homicide, and attempted aggravated homicide,” judicial sources said, while he was also received a fine of nearly $40 million, primarily for the damge caused to the luxurious club.
