Colombia peace court sentences former FARC leaders for their role in thousands of kidnappings

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombia’s peace tribunal on Tuesday issued its first sentence on war crimes committed during decades of internal conflict, finding seven former leaders of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, FARC, guilty of imposing policies that led to the kidnapping of 21,000 people.

The court said that the rebel group kidnapped civilians for ransom to finance its operations, while also depriving soldiers and politicians of their liberty in hopes of exchanging them for imprisoned rebels.

For the next eight years, the former rebel leaders must work on projects to find the bodies of missing people and remove landmines from rural areas. They will also have to engage in symbolic acts of reparation with their victims. To ensure compliance, the seven leaders will follow a strict schedule and have their movements monitored with electronic devices.

“This sentence does not erase the suffering of the victims,” said Camilo Suárez, the lead judge in the case. “But it is the voice that recognizes that what they went through was unjustifiable and inhumane.”

The court known as the Special Jurisdiction for Peace was created as part of the 2016 peace deal between the Colombian government and the FARC rebels. It has been praised by legal scholars who have argued that the tribunal has helped to document and uncover the grisly details of Colombia’s civil war. But it has also been criticized by Colombians who would like to see harsher punishments for perpetrators of war crimes.

Those who are summoned by the tribunal, accept its charges and collaborate with its investigations, are generally spared from prison time and are instead required to work on projects that include efforts to provide reparations to the victims of Colombia’s armed conflict.

Suspects who do not accept the peace tribunal’s charges but are found guilty of war crimes can face lengthy prison sentences.

In the early days of the kidnapping investigation, the FARC’s former secretariat accepted charges that its policies led to the kidnappings of 21,000 people, with its seven members attending several hearings where they were questioned by judges and victims.

During its investigation, the tribunal found that many victims were kept in chains or cages by the rebels, and that there were cases of sexual abuse. The rebel leaders who were on trial today, also acknowledged that they failed to control the conduct of fighters under their command.

Later this week, the peace tribunal is expected to rule on a second case, that involves extrajudicial executions committed by Colombia’s military.

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