Colombia approved a FARC amnesty law after an original deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia was rejected by a popular vote.
The Colombian Congress approved the law on Wednesday, “offering amnesty to some of those accused of minor crimes in the country’s decades-long civil conflict,” BBC News reported.
President Juan Manuel Santos referred to the law as “the first step towards the consolidation of peace” with FARC, the country’s largest rebel group, BBC News said.
The long-lived civil conflict has led to more than 260,000 deaths.
The new law will provide some junior members of the FARC along with army soldiers with freedom from prosecution. However, the crimes would have had to be minor.
“It means that the path is clear to guarantee the demobilization and disarmament of FARC members in the first half of next year,” said Interior Minister Juan Fernando Cristo, according to Euro News. “It’s no more and no less than the end of a 52-year conflict with the FARC. The FARC’s abandonment of arms is now in the hands of the United Nations so that the entire process of implementing the accords can begin.”
The new agreement comes after four years of discussions into this matter. The new deal is a revised peace deal that was agreed upon in November.
In the next six months, thousands of FARC fighters are expected to surrender.
Those found guilty of war crimes, however, will not receive amnesty.
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