Retired Major General Hernando Pérez Molina was accepted by the Special Jurisdiction for Peace after being investigated for more than a decade for the so-called false positives that would have occurred in the departments of Cauca, Valle and Caldas between 2005 and 2007.
According to the JEP’s Chamber for the Definition of Legal Situations, the major general (r) was commander of the Third Brigade and then of the Third Division of the Army and, from there, would have ordered and known of extrajudicial executions of civilians killed and presented as combat casualties.
The JEP accuses him of allegedly encouraging the practice of false positives and of having prior or subsequent knowledge of “the circumstances in which they would be executed or how they were covered up, which led to the initiation of preliminary investigations against him by the Delegate Prosecutors’ Offices.” before the Supreme Court of Justice, since he could be responsible for both active and omissive conduct due to his position as guarantor.”
In addition to being one of the highest commanding officers of the Public Force to submit to the JEP, Pérez Molina’s case is also relevant because he was accused by several of his former colleagues before he decided to ask for a clue in the special justice system. It is known, for example, that Colonel José Alejandro Forero Besil, former commander of the 23rd Infantry Battalion “Vencedores de Cartago”, accused him of knowing about this practice and of ask them to assume “casualties” that they had not committed in his battalion.
Likewise, also Colonel (r) Robinson González del Río, linked him to several of the false positives of which the ordinary justice system and the JEP accuse him.
In total, the commander (re) Hernando Pérez Molina must testify of at least 17 false positives – among them a minor and a Jan Jan – in which he could be linked.
For now, the Special Jurisdiction asked him to deliver his truth plan and ordered his Investigation and Accusation Unit to look for the victims of the case to check if they want to be part of the process that has already begun in that Court.