Impunity still high for Colombia’s ‘false positives’ cases, rampant at highest ranks (murders)

Impunity still high for Colombia’s ‘false positives’ cases, rampant at highest ranks
Jul 14, 2014 posted by Nicolas Bedoya

Despite some progress in recent years, impunity rates for so-called “false positive” extrajudicial killings remain high, according to statistics obtained by Colombia Reports from Colombia’s Prosecutor General’s Office.

Seven years after the scandal originally broke, only 27.6% of those members of the public security forces believed to have participated in the false positives practice — in which civilians were murdered and disguised as guerrillas slain in combat — have been investigated, while only 15% have been charged with a crime, according to the latest figures, which cut off in January 2014.

The Prosecutor General’s Office informed Colombia Reports that there have been at least 4,212 victims of “false positives” and that at least 4,774 members of the public security forces are believed to have been responsible.

~snip~
The extrajudicial killings known as false positives was a common occurrence during former President Alvaro Uribe’s administrations when members of the armed forces would murder civilians and present the dead as guerrillas killed in combat. False positives peaked during the years 2006 to 2008.

More:
http://colombiareports.co/immunity-still-rampant-high-ranking-officers-colombia-false-positive-cases/

(My emphasis.)