Colombia peace tribunal charges ex-FARC members with anti-Indigenous crimes

The former rebels are accused of abuses such as torture, murder and the displacement of Indigenous leaders during Colombia’s civil conflict.

Judge Alejandro Ramelli Arteaga, president of the Special Jurisdiction for Peace, gives an interview in Bogota, Colombia, on July 1, 2025 [Fernando Vergara/AP Photo]

Colombia’s transitional justice system, established to address crimes committed during the country’s decades-long civil conflict , has indicted several former members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), formerly the country’s largest rebel group.

A group of 10 ex-rebels were charged on Tuesday with alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity between 1996 and 2016.

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The Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP), the transitional justice tribunal, said that the accused had carried out crimes of torture, murder and forced displacement against five Indigenous groups in southeast Colombia.

“Today we are delivering justice to the most forgotten peoples of a segregated Colombia,” JEP magistrate Catalina Diaz said.

She explained that FARC commanders had ordered subordinates to plant landmines on Indigenous territory and ruin ecosystems the tribes relied on for survival.

“These people have had their basic right to exist compromised,” Diaz added.

The indictment is the latest example of Colombia’s efforts to reckon with the abuses and violence of a civil conflict that lasted for more than half a century, resulting in severe rights abuses .

Since the 1960s, left-wing rebels, government security forces, criminal networks and government-aligned right-wing paramilitaries have clashed over efforts to control territory and shape the country’s power structure.

Indigenous communities and activists continue to face violent attacks in Colombia today. Continued fighting has also led to an ever-growing death toll.

A 2022 report from Colombia’s Truth Commission found that 450,664 people were killed between 1985 and 2018 as a result of the conflict. An additional 121,768 people were forcibly disappeared.

Indigenous activists and community leaders hailed JEP’s decision on Tuesday as an acknowledgement that their communities were targeted.

“For the first time, the Colombian state recognises that [armed groups] did not just kill individuals,” said Yhon Jairo Figueroa, a leader of the Koreguaje tribe. “But they attempted to kill the knowledge, the language, the territory.”

Three of those accused are also former members of the last secretariat of the FARC, which reached a peace deal with the government in 2016 that included disarmament.

Critics of the deal and its implementation say that many of those responsible for abuses have escaped accountability. Some FARC fighters who refused to accept the agreement have since formed splinter groups that continue to fight in the conflict.

The 2016 deal ultimately granted the former rebels 10 seats in Colombia’s Congress to address the FARC’s political concerns.

One of the suspects indicted Tuesday was Julian Gallo, who served eight years as a senator under that deal.

The JEP, for its part, can impose only non-prison penalties. Last year, for instance, it sentenced seven ex-FARC members accused of kidnapping to eight years of reparations, including landmine clearing and helping to find missing persons.

Separately, JEP also sentenced former military members to reparation work for their involvement in the killing and disappearances of civilians, who were then tallied as rebels in government records. Those systemic misrepresentations became known as the “false positives” scandal.

But critics warn that threats to JEP’s existence loom under Colombia’s newly inaugurated far-right President Abelardo de la Espriella .

Allies of de la Espriella have proposed a nearly 17 percent cut to JEP’s funding for fiscal year 2027. Such budget reductions are set to be weighed by Colombia’s Congress this month.

Before taking office in August, de la Espriella served as a defence lawyer, in some cases representing right-wing paramilitaries. He has criticised the JEP, accusing it of issuing lenient sentences.

这些前叛军被指控在哥伦比亚内战期间犯有酷刑、谋杀和驱逐土著领导人等暴行。

2025年7月1日，和平特别管辖区主席亚历杭德罗·拉梅利·阿尔特加法官在哥伦比亚波哥大接受采访。[费尔南多·维加拉/美联社照片]

哥伦比亚的过渡时期司法系统旨在处理该国长达数十年的内战期间犯下的罪行，该系统已对哥伦比亚革命武装力量（FARC，该国曾经最大的反叛组织）的几名前成员提起诉讼。

周二，10名前叛军被指控在1996年至2016年期间犯有战争罪和反人类罪。

哥伦比亚将武装组织头目引渡至美国，此举标志着哥伦比亚向华盛顿靠拢的趋势（列表1/3）

哥伦比亚武装组织镇压行动致三名未成年人死亡（列表 2/3）

列表 3/3：强硬派总统就职后，哥伦比亚发生汽车炸弹袭击事件，举国震惊

特别和平法庭（JEP）是过渡时期司法法庭，该法庭表示，被告对哥伦比亚东南部的五个土著群体实施了酷刑、谋杀和强迫流离失所等罪行。

“今天，我们正在为被种族隔离的哥伦比亚最被遗忘的人民伸张正义，”特别和平法庭法官卡塔琳娜·迪亚兹说道。

她解释说，哥伦比亚革命武装力量指挥官命令下属在土著领土上埋设地雷，破坏部落赖以生存的生态系统。

迪亚兹补充说：“这些人的基本生存权利受到了损害。”

这份起诉书是哥伦比亚为清算持续半个多世纪的内战中存在的侵犯人权和暴力行为而做出的最新努力，这场内战导致了严重的人权侵犯。

自 20 世纪 60 年代以来，左翼叛军、政府安全部队、犯罪网络和与政府结盟的右翼准军事组织一直在争夺领土控制权和塑造国家权力结构，并因此发生冲突。

如今，哥伦比亚的原住民社区和活动人士仍然面临暴力袭击。持续不断的冲突也导致死亡人数不断攀升。

哥伦比亚真相委员会2022年的一份报告显示，1985年至2018年间，共有450,664人死于冲突，另有121,768人被强迫失踪。

原住民活动家和社区领袖对JEP周二的决定表示欢迎，认为这是对他们社区成为攻击目标的承认。

科雷瓜赫部落首领伊翁·贾伊罗·菲格罗亚表示：“哥伦比亚政府首次承认，（武装团体）不仅仅是杀害个人，他们还试图摧毁知识、语言和领土。”

其中三名被告也是哥伦比亚革命武装力量（FARC）最后一届秘书处的前成员，该组织于 2016 年与政府达成和平协议，其中包括解除武装。

批评人士指出，该协议及其执行情况表明，许多犯下暴行的人逍遥法外。一些拒绝接受该协议的哥伦比亚革命武装力量（FARC）武装分子后来组建了分裂组织，继续参与冲突。

2016 年的协议最终赋予了前叛军在哥伦比亚国会 10 个席位，以解决哥伦比亚革命武装力量的政治诉求。

周二被起诉的嫌疑人之一是朱利安·加洛，他根据那项协议担任了八年参议员。

特别和平法庭（JEP）只能判处非监禁刑罚。例如，去年，该法庭判处七名被控绑架的前哥伦比亚革命武装力量成员八年赔偿，赔偿内容包括清除地雷和协助寻找失踪人员。

此外，JEP还判处一些前军人进行赔偿劳动，以弥补他们参与杀害和强迫平民失踪的罪行，这些平民随后被政府记录为叛乱分子。这种系统性的错误记录被称为“假阳性”丑闻。

但批评人士警告说，在哥伦比亚新​​上任的极右翼总统阿韦拉多·德拉·埃斯普里利亚的领导下，JEP 的生存面临威胁。

德拉埃斯普里利亚的盟友提议将2027财年JEP的预算削减近17%。哥伦比亚国会将于本月审议此类预算削减方案。

德拉埃斯普里利亚在8月就任前曾担任辩护律师，有时为右翼准军事组织辩护。他曾批评特别和平法庭（JEP），指责其判刑过轻。