Senior army officers in Colombia knew of extrajudicial killings of civilians, Human Rights Watch said in a report.
The rights organisation said it had seen evidence which strongly suggests "numerous generals and colonels knew or should have known about 'false positive' killings, and may have ordered or otherwise actively furthered them", including transcripts or recordings of testimony provided to prosecutors directly accusing several of Colombia's highest ranking officers of "having known of, planned, or attempted to facilitate false positive killings while holding those positions".
“False positive killings amount to one of the worst episodes of mass atrocity in the Western Hemisphere in recent years, and there is mounting evidence that many senior army officers bear responsibility,” said José Miguel Vivanco, executive Americas director at Human Rights Watch.
“Yet the army officials in charge at the time of the killings have escaped justice and even ascended to the top of the military command, including the current heads of the army and armed forces.”
The 'false positive' scandal saw civilians murdered by soldiers and passed off as rebel or paramilitary, to increase the army's kill rate.
Over 800 soldiers have so far been jailed over the killings.