Colombia Modifies Military Courts Bill

The Colombian government has tempered proposed legislation that would strengthen military courts' jurisdiction. Human rights advocates and other critics were concerned that the original language of the bill would allow widespread impunity for military officers charged in the "false positives" scandal, by trying them in the more lenient military courts. However, on Tuesday, the Deputy Defense Minister Jorge Bedoya confirmed that the ambiguous language in the bill was removed, thus ensuring that false positives killings would be tried in civilian courts.