Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07BOGOTA791
2007-02-06 11:34:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Bogota
Cable title:
FISCALIA INDICTS, ARRESTS SEVEN SOLDIERS IN HIGH
how-toVZCZCXYZ0006 RR RUEHWEB DE RUEHBO #0791 0371134 ZNR UUUUU ZZH R 061134Z FEB 07 FM AMEMBASSY BOGOTA TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2468 INFO RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 8643 RUEHLP/AMEMBASSY LA PAZ FEB LIMA 4712 RUEHQT/AMEMBASSY QUITO 5367 RUEHGL/AMCONSUL GUAYAQUIL 3862
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.
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
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