Investigation finds Colombian police responsible for deaths of 11 people amid protests
BY MONIQUE BEALS - 12/13/21 05:06 PM EST
An investigation backed by the United Nations has found that police were responsible for 11 deaths that took place during two days of protests in Colombia against police brutality.
The 177-page report published Monday after an investigation requested by Bogotá Mayor Claudia López called the killings a "massacre" and “one of the most serious episodes of violations against human rights in the history of the city of Bogotá,” according to The Washington Post.
“Who should assume political responsibility? Me, to begin with. But also the Police and the president of the Republic,” López said in part of the report. “That’s what I’ve asked for from day one. From that day it was obvious that what happened was police abuse and a state crime.”
The protests were prompted by the death of Javier Ordóñez, who broke the city’s COVID-19 lockdown. As a result, the Post reported that two police officers repeatedly used a stun gun on him.
More:
https://thehill.com/policy/international/585622-investigation-finds-colombian-police-responsible-for-deaths-of-11-people
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By Stefano Pozzebon, CNN
Updated 8:01 PM ET, Mon December 13, 2021
Colombian riot police clash with protestors during an anti-police brutality demonstration in Bogota, Colombia, on September 21, 2020.
(CNN)A UN-backed investigation has found that Colombian police were directly responsible for the deaths of 11 people protesting police brutality in September 2020.
Announcing the results of the report on Monday, Chief investigator Carlos Negret accused Colombian National Police (PNC) of committing a "massacre."
"The PNC openly dismissed any principle of proportionality or absolute necessity in using lethal force," according to the report.
"Who gave the order, why were they shooting against unarmed protesters, whose responsible for the pain and for the lives lost -- those are the questions we were not able to answer," Negret said at a press conference on Monday.
Negret, who served as Colombia's ombudsman from 2016 to 2020, also reiterated the UN definition of a massacre, saying it "takes place when three or more people are murdered in the same incident and by the same perpetrator."
More:
https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/13/americas/colombia-protests-police-brutality-report-intl/index.html