A new study by a former police colonel and sociologist, Omar Rojas, and historian Fabian Leonardo Benavides, claims that Colombia's military executed approximately 10,000 civilians between 2002 and 2010. The study was published in the book "Extrajudicial Executions in Colombia, 2002-2010 - Blind Obedience in Fictitious Battlefields."This means that the majority of the 16,724 combat kills reported by the military were civilians and not guerrilla, as the Colombian people were led to believe. Colombia's Attorney General's office is currently investigating 4,780 false positives. According to Omar Rojas,the practice was a coordinated effort to mislead the country into believing that the military was winning the armed conflict.
Hundreds of soldiers accused of committing the executions are waiting to be called to trial before a transitional justice court and a truth commission that seek to clarify the tens of thousands of human rights violations committed by the military and the guerrilla.
The International Criminal Court has warned Colombia that unless military commanders are prosecuted in Colombia they could be prosecuted in The Hague.
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