Ten police officers jailed for point-blank murder of three youths in Colombia

A judge of first instance has sent to jail the ten Colombian police officers accused of murdering three young men at point-blank range last July 24 in the municipality of Chocó, in the department of Sucre, in the north of the country.

The officers must remain in prison while their criminal proceedings continue, as decided by the judge after hearing the arguments of the Prosecutor’s Office and the Attorney General’s Office, considering that the police officers pose a risk to the community, as reported by ‘El Espectador’.

The policemen have been accused of murdering and torturing three young men last July, after they were captured alive and later appeared dead in a clinic in Sincelejo, with several bullet impacts, which according to them this would be a case of false positives by the National Police, according to RCN Radio.

The young men were presented as neutralized by the uniformed. However, the Prosecutor’s Office showed that the events did not happen as they were told by the agents, according to the evidence collected, as well as the autopsies of the victims.

Once the trial has started and according to the magistrate, the uniformed officers cannot hide behind the fact that they would have received orders from a superior to justify their innocence, “since this obedience ends when human rights are violated, as in this case,” she said in statements reported by the newspaper.

In addition, he has assured that despite the fact that the accused do not have a previous record, the seriousness of the facts “makes necessary their detention in a prison center”.

Of the eleven police officers investigated for this fact, the only one who has not appeared before the authorities is Colonel Núñez, who is under an Interpol red notice after leaving the country for Mexico.

Two patrolmen in their testimonies during the trial have accused the colonel of having shot the three young men at point-blank range.