Prosecutor’s office will charge police officers for 3 homicides during protests in Colombia

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Colombian Attorney General’s Office will charge police officers for the homicides of three civilians during the violent demonstrations in Colombia, which began on Wednesday last week and, according to that agency, has left at least 11 dead. However, some NGOs raise that figure to 37.

“Three of these homicides will be charged to members of the National Police in the framework of these demonstrations,” said the Colombian Attorney General, Francisco Barbosa, in a joint statement with the Ombudsman, Carlos Camargo.

Barbosa recalled that the Ombudsman’s Office reported 24 homicides during the protests. After using “all the mechanisms of judicial clarification”, the Attorney General’s Office determined that “11 violent deaths occurred during these demonstrations, seven are being verified, and six homicides have no link”.

The demonstrations started on April 28 against the already withdrawn tax reform of the Colombian government and continue today, among other arguments, as a protest and rejection of police brutality.

Social discontent continues to spill into the streets, where chaotic days of violence and destruction have also been experienced.

SEARCH FOR MISSING PERSONS

According to the Ombudsman’s Office, 89 people have been reported missing since the demonstrations began, but the prosecutor Barbosa assured 38 people “have already been located”.

“We have 51 people pending to locate in the next few days,” the official said.

Ombudsman Camargo said, for his part, that “a search mechanism is activated which consists of visiting Legal Medicine, the immediate reaction units (URI), police stations and protection centers by transfer, as well as hospitals and clinics”.

The Government insists that illegal armed groups are the instigators of the violence. Still, it avoids giving explanations on the disproportionate use of public force denounced by international organizations such as the UN, the European Union, and Amnesty International.

Meanwhile, different sectors accuse the president of dodging responsibility for the public force accused of deaths during the demonstrations.