In San Benito de Abad (Sucre), four professional soldiers, in an anticipated way, were sentenced to thirty-one years and four months of imprisonment each for murders of three individuals by a Specialized Penal Circuit Judge in Sincelejo.
On July 2007, the death of three individuals who allegedly committed extortion was reported by Human Rights, IHL and army troops attached to Sucre Joined Task Force in combat. The bodies were identified as: Hamilton Fuentes de Horta, Willis Monterrosa Julio y Albeiro David Meza Romero.
Also, a confiscation of two short-range fire arms and a home-made grenade launcher were reported by the military.
Colombian Attorney General Office established that Fuentes de Horta and Monterrosa Julio were bici-taxi drivers in Tolú – Sucre, while Meza Romero was building assistant in Sincelejo city. These three individuals were contacted for an alleged job in a cotton farm in the region.
Likewise, the prosecutor conducting the investigation dismissed that the death of these individuals occurred during armed shock.
The convicted persons were identified as: Luis Carlos Madrid Romero, Ferdinando Zambrano Hernández, Santiago Palacios Córdoba y Agustín Rentería Palomeque. They were convicted for offences of homicide of a protected person, aggravated enforced disappearance, criminal association, ideological falseness in a public document, illegal carrying of firearms of civil and military use, misappropriation, procedural fraud and destruction, deletion or concealment of a public document.