An international human rights group has accused Colombia's attorney general of stalling investigations of senior military officers accused of cooperating with right-wing paramilitaries in the killings of suspected rebel sympathisers.
New York-based Human Rights Watch said Luis Camilo Osorio had fired or forced the resignations of 26 state prosecutors and investigators probing high-ranking officers linked to crimes by paramilitaries, including a 2001 massacre of 26 peasants.
The prosecutors, who were trained in human rights by the U.S. Justice Department, quit "at key moments" of the investigation, effectively stalling the cases, the group said in a report made public in the Colombian capital, Bogota.
"In the past year, under the leadership of Attorney General Luis Camilo Osorio, the office's ability to investigate and prosecute human rights abuses has deteriorated significantly," Jose Miguel Vivanco, executive director of the group's Americas division told a news conference.
Vivanco accused Osorio, appointed by Congress in 2001 during the government of former President Andres Pastrana, of conducting a "purge" to rid his office's human rights unit of prosecutors involved in "delicate cases" against active and retired officers of the U.S.-backed military.
Osorio's office on Friday called the report "partial" and said the office was committed to prosecuting human rights abuses. "The withdrawal from the institution of a small number of prosecutors was due to voluntary resignations and never under pressure," the office said in a news release. It said Osorio had expanded the size and competence of the human rights unit. Colombia, gripped by a 38-year-old war fueled by the cocaine trade, has received massive military aid from Washington.
Hard-line President Alvaro Uribe, who took office in August, has pledged to respect human rights as he steps up a military campaign against outlaw groups. Uribe has given the military new powers in war zones, using state of emergency powers. He has also tightened controls on foreign press covering a war that kills thousands every year.