The Truth Recognition Section of the Peace Tribunal of the JEP will communicate its restorative sentences to 12 former members of ‘La Popa’ Battalion, which have provided truth and acknowledged responsibility in the aforementioned events.

According to the transitional justice body, the contributions of the participants made it possible to determine that some members of the battalion formed a criminal organization that, using the legal structure of the military unit, developed a plan under which serious crimes were committed.

According to the JEP, between January 2002 and July 2005, members of this battalion were responsible for 135 murders and forced disappearances in 77 events.

It also determined as part of its findings that the criminal practice went from a motivation for a “counterinsurgency struggle or an alliance with paramilitary groups” to “accessing the benefits offered by the Army to those who provided operational results, especially combat casualties, and avoiding sanctions for those who did not”.

jdt/jav/rc/ifs