Colombian federal prosecutors accuse the defense of retired Colonel Alfonso Plazas Vega of falsifying evidence in the case over the colonel’s alleged role in the disappearance of civilians in the 1985 Palace of Justice siege.
According to the prosecution, the defense used a falsified dossier suggesting that remains of two civilians who went missing after the siege were found among the remains of victims of the fire that occurred during the army attack.
Shortly before Monday’s hearing, defense lawyer Pedro Capacho stated that forensic investigators had evidence supporting the presumtion that those still missing today died in the fire on the fourth floor.
Capacho also claimed that the inferno which killed them was premeditated by the M-19 guerrillas who initiated the capture of the Palace of Justice, taking 300 hostages.
However, the prosecution claims that the forensic documents are false and that the army was guilty of the fire that eventually destroyed the complete building.
Plazas Vega coordinated the recapture of the Palace in November 1985 after it had been overtaken by guerrillas of M19. The resulting siege killed more than 96 people – including eleven Supreme Court magistrates. Eleven civilians went missing after they were seen and photographed being escorted from the building safely.
