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 people The court noted 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 casualties 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 casualties revealed Camilo Su rez the lead judge in the affair 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 peace deal between the Colombian regime 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 Sebasti n Vel squez a spokesman for the Federation of Casualties of Terrorism in Colombia which represents more than sufferers of Colombia s conflict commented he was disappointed with the ruling because it did not force the former rebel leadership to provide economic compensation to communities affected by kidnappings The casualties group contends that during Colombia s conflict the FARC leadership amassed money in bank accounts and purchased homes farms and cattle that were transferred to third parties and could be sold to compensate casualties a claim denied by the former FARC leadership They avoided going to prison in exchange for telling the truth Vel squez revealed In our opinion they have not fully complied with that deal 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 casualties of Colombia s armed conflict Individuals who do not accept the peace tribunal s charges but are detected guilty of war crimes can face lengthy prison sentences In the early days of the kidnapping research the FARC s former secretariat accepted charges that its policies led to the kidnappings of people with its seven members attending several hearings where they were questioned by judges and casualties During its research the tribunal uncovered that countless casualties were kept in chains or cages by the rebels and that there were cases of sexual abuse The rebel leaders who were on trial in current times 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 affair that involves extrajudicial executions committed by Colombia s military Follow AP s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https apnews com hub latin-america Source