FISCALIA INDICTS, ARRESTS SEVEN SOLDIERS IN HIGH

UNCLAS BOGOTA 000791 SIPDIS SIPDIS SENSITIVE DEPARTMENT FOR DRL E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM PGOV KJUS CO SUBJECT: FISCALIA INDICTS, ARRESTS SEVEN SOLDIERS IN HIGH PROFILE SAN JOSE DE APARTADO HUMAN RIGHTS CASE Sensitive but Unclassified. Not for Internet Distribution. ¶1. (U) On January 31, the Prosecutor General's Office (Fiscalia) announced the indictments and arrests of seven soldiers on homicide charges in the January 21, 2006 killing of Edilberto Vasquez Cardona of the Arenas Alta Peace Community in San Jose de Apartado. The seven soldiers, two noncommissioned officers and five enlistees belonging to the 17th Brigade, initially claimed Vasquez was a FARC member, who was killed in combat. The soldiers said they had confiscated ammunition and two fragmentation grenades from Vasquez, but family members claimed the soldiers had dragged him from his home and shot him. ¶2. (SBU) Evidence against the soldiers includes ballistics tests and witness testimony. The Fiscalia said ballistics tests indicated Vasquez never fired a weapon. There were also inconsistencies between his wounds, the bullets' presumed trajectories, and the soldiers' testimony, and the Fiscalia reported other contradictory statements made by the soldiers. Leonardo Cabana, head of the Fiscalia's Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law Unit, told us his Medellin office was handling the case and that the trial would take place in that district. Cabana said the trial should begin in around five months, since the soldiers would likely appeal the indictments. DRUCKER