Colombia investigates military jail 'special treatment'

[Judi Lynn]

Source: BBC News

4 April 2011 Last updated at 17:35 ET
Colombia investigates military jail 'special treatment'

Prosecutors in Colombia say they will investigate the treatment of prisoners at one of the country's military jails, after a news magazine reported they were being given special privileges.

Semana magazine said many prisoners came and went as they pleased and lived in luxurious cabins.

Others were reportedly allowed to take holidays on the Colombian coast.

~snip~
According to the report by Semana, prisoners at Tolemaida, including those found guilty of human rights abuses, ran businesses inside the penitentiary and in many cases continued drawing their salaries.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-12966722

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U.S. American taxpayers' hard-earned tax dollars are being liberally poured into Colombia, over $8 billion since 2000. We don't hear the right-wingers howling about supporting a government with soldiers drawing pay in prison after participating in massacres.

[2banon]

1. geeze.. this should go out far and wide...send this to Ratigan and Maddow

maybe, it'll get some on air mention. :shrug:

[2banon]

2. self delete -- computer dupe

[Judi Lynn]

3. VP condemns luxury conditions for jailed soldiers

VP condemns luxury conditions for jailed soldiers
Monday, 04 April 2011 10:31
Samuel Thomson

Colombia's Vice President Angelino Garzon condemned on Monday the lenient treatment of ex-army officers detained in the Tolemaida military detention center, local media reported.

~snip~
The investigation discovered that detainees could easily make business deals, go to local restaurant and clubs, spend holidays in resorts on the Caribbean coast and retain salaries and other benefits from their army careers. Prisoners interviewed by Semana say that, as in the past, any measures that curb the liberties of detainees will eventually be waived as there are too many officials keen to ingratiate themselves with members of the incarcerated military elite.

The families of the army murder victims have expressed outrage over the leniency shown to the perpetrators of these crimes. Senate President Armando Benedetti declared furthermore on Sunday that the "state is behaving worse than terrortists," by affording luxuries to be granted to inmates.

According to Caracol Radio, Prosecutor General Viviane Morales has arranged a meeting on Monday to discuss how best to conduct a formal investigation into the matter.

More:
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/15352-colombia-vp-condemns-lenient-treatment-of-military-convicts.html

[Judi Lynn]

4. Over 2,000 bodies from mass graves remain unidentified

Over 2,000 bodies from mass graves remain unidentified
Monday, 04 April 2011 14:07
Samuel Thomson

The Prosecutor General’s Office has said that only 1,243 bodies have been identified and returned to their families out of a total of 3,892 exhumed from mass graves across Colombia in the last five years, media reported Monday.

The remaining 2,649 bodies are still in the hands of the government waiting to either be identified by relatives or through successful DNA testing.

These figures underline the difficulties experts face in identifying the murdered victims of Colombia’s long running internal conflict.

Colombia has previously vowed to use all available tools to identify the human remains of victims of violent crimes. To facilitate this, in November last year the Interior and Justice Minister signed an agreement with the National Registry and the forensics agency Medicina to streamline operations.

More:
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/15362-over-2000-bodies-from-mass-graves-remain-unidentified-.html