Colombian general handed jail term over 1985 Palace of Justice siege

Bogota [Colombia], June 21: A former Colombian general has been sentenced to 31 years in prison almost four decades after a deadly operation to free hostages from the country's Justice Palace which was occupied by guerilla forces, local media reported on Wednesday. Members of the now extinct Marxist guerrilla movement M-19 occupied the seat of Colombia's Supreme Court on November 6, 1985, in what became known as the Palace of Justice siege. They held the Supreme Court justices as well as dozens of other people hostage. When the military stormed the building a day later, 98 people, including Supreme Court justices, were killed and 11 others went missing. In 2015, then-president Juan Manuel Santos acknowledged that the military bore responsibility for the bloody end to the hostage
situation. (dpa)
Source: Qatar Tribune