Colombian Peace Court names 2,000 victims of false positives to “combat denialism”

The Peace Court in Colombia identified on Thursday by full name almost 2,000 victims of “false positives”, as the extrajudicial executions of civilians who were falsely presented as guerrillas defeated in combats with the military are known. This is a way to confirm their existence and fight against sectors that question the magnitude of the crimes.

“Today we are summoned by a citizen, ethical and moral duty: the need to vindicate the memory of those who were murdered and disappeared by those who were called to protect them,” Alejandro Ramelli, president of the court, said before the mothers of the victims.

It was a symbolic act in memory of the 6,402 victims of “false positives” that the court has identified in its investigations into the Colombian internal conflict, the majority murdered between 2002 and 2008.

For Ramelli, the symbolic act was necessary to “combat the merciless and impudent denialism of those who still care about numbers and not events.”

The court has received requests from some right-wing politicians to reveal exact data such as names, identity documents and details of the murders of the 6,402 victims of “false positives”, an unprecedented figure that the court consolidated after its investigations, which represents triple the figures known until then.

However, the court indicated on Thursday that all the names of the victims will be disclosed once the verification of the information is completed for the protection of the judicial investigation and “out of respect and dignity for their families.”

More than 800 former soldiers have given their version of these crimes before the Special Jurisdiction for Peace, as the court that was created after the peace agreement signed eight years agobetween the State and the guerrilla Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Dozens of former soldiers have accepted responsibility for extrajudicial executions.

The reading of the names of the victims took place during the exhibition “Women with their boots on,” which was presented at the court facilities by the mothers and relatives who have dedicated themselves to denouncing the cases and asking for justice.

The boots became a symbol in the denunciation of “false positives” because some murdered young people appeared with their boots on backwards and with guerrilla uniforms that had no traces of bullets, even though the bodies showed the wounds.

“Why don’t we ask as a society to publish the names of the soldiers who were involved in the deaths of our relatives, there are more than 4,500 soldiers who are being investigated,” claimed Jaqueline Castillo, one of the victims. “They do deserve to be in that public scorn. “Today we ask for respect for our victims,” he added.

The exhibition had been installed in the Colombian Congress at the beginning of November, however, right-wing congressman Miguel Polo Polo recorded a video throwing the boots, a symbol of the victims, into a garbage bag, while questioning whether they were used to “make an apology.” ” of extrajudicial executions. The mothers of the victims criticized the congressman’s action because they considered that they were revictimized.

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