Colombia’s war crimes tribunal JEP sentenced seven former commanders of guerrilla group FARC to eight years of restorative labor projects.
In a 663-page ruling, the JEP held the former guerrilla group’s surviving former commanders responsible for almost 22,000 kidnappings committed by the group between 1993 and 2016.
More than 4,300 of the surviving victims were registered as such before the JEP.
In many cases, the kidnappings resulted in “the taking of hostages, homicides as well as crimes against humanity like imprisonment, assassinations and forced disappearances,” the JEP ruled.
All former FARC commanders plead guilty to the kidnapping charges as part of an ongoing peace process that seeks to clarify the crimes committed against millions of Colombians during the armed conflict and provide at least some justice to the victims.
JEP investigations as well as he testimonies of the guerrillas and their victims revealed that the FARC leadership used kidnappings as a way to finance their attempts to overthrow the State that began in 1964.
Convicted commanders
- Rodrigo Londoño, a.k.a. “Timochenko”
- Pastor Alape
- Jaime Alberto Parra, a.k.a. “El Medico”
- Jorge Torres, a.k.a. “Pablo Catatumbo”
- Milton de Jesus Toncel, a.k.a. “Joaquin Gomez”
- Julian Gallo, a.k.a. “Carlos Antonio Lozada”
- Rodrigo Grande, a.k.a. “Ricardo Tellez”
While the former rebel chiefs did not personally take part in the kidnappings, they were “determinants for the execution and implementation of the [FARC’s] kidnapping policy throughout the country, as well as other crimes committed in the context of captivity,” said the JEP.
Consequently, the tribunal held the surviving members of the FARC’s military command responsible for the damages caused to all the registered victims and their families.
Because of their cooperation with the transitional justice system, the former guerrilla commander weren’t sentenced to prison, but will have to take part in attempts to locate and retrieve forcibly disappeared kidnappings victims, demining efforts and projects that seek to undo environmental damages and honor the memory of victims.
Later this week, the JEP is expected to sentence former members of the military for their participation in the extrajudicial executions of civilians in the Cesar province.
