Plazas Vega Acquitted in US Over the 1985 Palace of Justice Recapture
Retired Colombian Army Colonel Alfonso Plazas Vega was found not liable on Thursday in Miami, United States, in the civil lawsuit he faced over the death of Carlos Horacio Urán, an assistant magistrate of Colombia’s Council of State, during the military recapture of the Palace of Justice in Bogota in November 1985. The unanimous verdict […]
Colombian Colonel Alfonso Plazas Vega has been acquitted in Miami, United States, in a civil lawsuit that stemmed from the 1985 Palace of Justice recapture. The verdict, reached after over three hours of deliberation by a Florida jury, dismissed allegations of liability for the death of assistant magistrate Carlos Horacio Urán. The lawsuit, filed in February 2022 by Urán's widow and three daughters, sought to establish Plazas Vega's civil responsibility for Urán's torture and extrajudicial execution during the military operation to recapture the Palace of Justice.
The plaintiffs claimed that Urán had survived the takeover but was subsequently tortured and killed, based on evidence such as a video showing him leaving the building and testimony from survivors. Plazas Vega's defense argued that there was no direct evidence linking him to the magistrate's death. The acquittal follows a lengthy legal history for the former military officer, including a 30-year prison sentence in Colombia in 2010 and an acquittal by Colombia's Supreme Court in 2015, both related to the same events.
Written by urgent.news from Colombia One's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
