Colombian army committed 6,400 extrajudicial killings: Court

Killings allegedly presented as combat deaths to boost perception of military gains in conflict against FARC rebels.

Colombia’s military carried out at least 6,400 extrajudicial killings and presented them as combat deaths between 2002 and 2008, a number that is at least three times higher than previously estimated, a special court has said. The Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) court is investigating crimes and atrocities committed during half a century of armed conflict between government troops and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), Marxist rebels who laid down their weapons following a historic 2016 peace accord. It has a 10-year mandate. On Thursday, the tribunal, which was set up under the peace deal, described the killings in question as “illegitimate deaths presented as combat fatalities”, also known as “false positives”.