JEP charges ten former FARC guerrillas with crimes against indigenous peoples in Colombia
The Colombian peace tribunal accused three former senior commanders and seven mid-level officers of the FARC of war crimes and crimes against humanity against five indigenous peoples.
Colombian peace tribunal charges former FARC guerrillas with attacks on indigenous communities
The Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) charged ten former members of the FARC on Tuesday with war crimes and crimes against humanity committed against indigenous peoples in Colombia, according to an announcement by the judicial body. This was reported by lagrannoticia.com.
The defendants are three former senior commanders and seven mid-level officers of the former guerrilla group, who face charges for acts committed between 1996 and 2016 in the Amazon and Orinoco regions, areas that constituted historical strongholds of the armed group.
The JEP's statement describes the charges as crimes related to "extermination, murder, forced disappearance, torture, persecution, forced displacement and use of anti-personnel mines" against five indigenous peoples. The case encompasses acts of violence that affected more than 10,000 indigenous people in remote areas of the country.
Among the most serious documented incidents is a 1997 massacre at a Korebajü reservation in the department of Caquetá, in southern Colombia. Guerrillas entered the territory and murdered seven authorities and community members whose names were on a list. According to the JEP document, the victims "were accused of collaborating with the enemy".
The tribunal also points to the structural impact of the illegal group on communities: difficulties in accessing basic health and education services, restrictions on mobility, implantation of anti-personnel mines and destruction of ecosystems.
The JEP was created from the 2016 peace agreement that disarmed the FARC. Its mandate is to judge the most serious crimes of the Colombian conflict with alternative penalties to imprisonment. In September 2025, the tribunal issued its first convictions against the former guerrilla leadership for kidnapping and against former military personnel responsible for the murder of nearly 7,900 civilians. Some former commanders have already begun to serve their sentences by participating in excavations in cemeteries in search of thousands of disappeared persons.
The body warned, however, that it could become "inoperative" if Congress approves a major budget cut to its funding driven by the government of President Aberlardo de la Espriella.
Source: Google News CO — Crime