As alleged accessories to the triple murder in protected person, in simultaneity with manufacture, trafficking or possession of personal defense firearms, three retired soldiers were remand in custody by the First Criminal Court, acting as supervisory court, in Pereira city.

Such measure, requested by a prosecutor’s office, affects John Fredy Quintero Henao – professional soldier, and Jesus Antonio Arias Valencia and Luis Antonio Arboleda Velásquez, regular soldiers, at that time of the facts.

According to the investigation carried out by a Prosecutor assigned to the National Unit of Human Rights and IHL, the incident occurred on March 16, 2007 in Laureles village, Segovia (Antioquia), where troops of the Pedro Nel Ospina battalion headquartered in Medellín and the “Energy Road” Battalion No. 8, (In Spanish: Batallón Vial Energético) in Segovia (Antioquia), killed three peasants who were presented as Farc guerrilla men gunned down in combat.

After the alleged confrontation, the uniformed officers seized three guns, one of which, according to the experts, was not fit for shooting. The victims, coffee pickers, were identified as: Diego Ferney Jiménez Montoya, Julian Andrés Hernández Henao and Inri de Jesus Alzate Alzate.

Job offer

Three farmers were contacted in Belalcázar (Caldas) and traveled to Medellin for a false job offer made by Luis Norberto Serna. This last individual, after accepting his responsibility for the facts, was sentenced to 32 years in prison for the crime of conspiracy to commit a crime, homicide and illegal possession of weapons.

Similarly, the Prosecutor in the case pointed out that the killings of the three peasants are related to the murder of Jorge Humberto Lotero Restrepo, perpetrated on the same date on the village El Sesenta (The Sixty), municipality of Caldas (Antioquia Department). According to a testimony, this victim left the Risaralda municipality (Caldas Department) with destination to Medellin, also deceived by Serna with a work proposal.

None of the defendants were not agreed to accept the charges at the end of the accusation hearing and they are deprived of freedom in Salamina town prison (Caldas department), “La Picalena” prison in Ibagué (Tolima Department), and “La 40” prison in Pereira (Risaralda department), where they are serving sentences for other facts.

In this case, 12 others are in yield under measures.