By IANS
Bogota (Colombia) : Former rightist militia chief Diego Fernando Murillo Bejarano has said here that at least 300 of his men were killed and buried in mass graves in the northwest Colombian province of Antioquia.
Murillo, better known as “Don Berna,” was arrested last year after demobilization of more than 31,000 members of his United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC), Spanish news agency EFE reported.
He was deposing under the Justice and Peace law, which requires militia leaders to confess to their crimes in exchange of an undertaking that no matter how many people they had killed, they will not spend more than eight years in detention.
The former warlord, whose militia operated in and around Medellin, capital of Antioquia and Colombia’s second city, said that he would show authorities the locations of 11 mass graves.
An extradition request by the US is pending against Murillo on accusations of drug trafficking, but handing him over to US authorities has been suspended because of his participation in the peace process.
Don Berna first became known to Colombian authorities as an enforcer who took part in the 1980s and 1990s struggles between late drug lord Pablo Escobar and the latter’s rivals.
After joining the AUC in 2000, he became a dominant figure within the organization as it increased its involvement in drug trafficking and other criminal activities.