Ex-General Sentenced in Paramilitary Killings
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In the first such verdict against a top Colombian officer in a human rights case, a former army general has been convicted of failing to defend a town during a 1997 killing spree by a right-wing paramilitary death squad.
A military tribunal sentenced Gen. Jaime Humberto Uscategui late Monday to a 40-month term in the massacre of at least 22 people in the southern town of Mapiripan.
In the killing spree, gunmen based in the north allegedly flew into a military-controlled airport en route to the town, where they slit victims’ throats and dumped their bodies into a river after accusing residents of collaborating with leftist guerrillas.
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