6 soldiers to stand trial for 'false positive' killing

[Judi Lynn]

6 soldiers to stand trial for 'false positive' killing
Wednesday, 16 March 2011 07:41
Edward Fox

Six military officials were called to trial Tuesday for the case of an alleged "false positive" killing in 2007, Colombian media reported.

The soldiers had been under investigation for the murder of a woman shot in the rural area of Puerto Asis in the southwestern department of Putumayo. Armed forces claimed afterward that she was the head of a network of extortionists operating in the area.

Last week a former sergeant was convicted for a separate incident where he was found to have killed a peasant and then declared the victim to be a member of the FARC.

The "false positives" scandal is on-going, with several armed forces members under investigation for what some estimate to be the thousands of people who may have been murdered in cases where the army kill civilians then claim they were enemy combatants in order to inflate kill counts.

http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/14925-six-soldiers-to-stand-trial-for-false-positive.html