They reduce the sentence of colonel who manipulated the crime scene in the case of Diego Felipe Becerra

On October 25, a judge sentenced Colonel (r) Nelson de Jesús Arévalo, former commander of the Suba Police Station, to 22 years in prison for manipulating the crime scene with the intention of diverting the investigation into the murder of graffiti artist Diego Felipe Becerra Lizarazo. And on April 6, in the second instance, he lowered his sentence.

The Criminal Chamber of the Superior Court of Bogotá ruled that Arévalo must answer for the crimes of favor in aggravated homicide and the manufacture, carrying and possession of weapons.

The former commander, with the aim of protecting patrolman Wilmer Antonio Alarcón, who shot Becerra, obtained a weapon to make believe that the graffiti artist had threatened him, so that the shot that led to his death would look like self-defense.

Despite this, Arévalo must be 20 years behind bars instead of 22, contrary to what was established in the first instance. The reason: an error in the definition of the crime.

The court reduced the sentence,

According to the Prosecutor's Office, at midnight, after the crime was committed, the former commander of Suba station arrived at 116th Street to order to “unify the version” of what happened, that is, that the officers agreed to say that a young graffiti artist had participated in the robbery of a bus and that, in defense of his life, the patrolman shot him. The uniformed even communicated with his superiors, according to the investigating and prosecuting body. “He tried to save Alarcón,” the magistrate said.

As for patrolman Wilmer Antonio Alarcón, the Criminal Chamber of the Court established that there is “nothing to correct” in his sentence, which is why he will have to spend 37 years behind bars.

Diego Felipe Becerra refused a movie trip with his parents to go with his friends to paint graffiti. He was there on the night of August 19, 2011, under the bridge of 116th Street and Boyacá Avenue, leaving the image of Gato Felix engraved, when they were surprised by police officers.

The young men ran because in order to prevent the uniformed men from removing their paintings, but the patrolman Alarcón, then attached to the CAI Andes, caught up with Diego Felipe and shot him. The child under 16 years of age was taken to the Shaio Clinic with an injury to the lumbar area of his back that caused his death, after arriving at the health center.

His father arrived at the clinic, learned of the death, and a uniformed man told him that he had found a gun. At the crime scene he saw the cops in a dubious conversation and decided to warn that there was an alteration of the facts, as his son was painting graffiti. He wasn't a criminal. From that moment on, the framework that sought to frame the minor in order to safeguard the freedom of the patrolman began to be exposed.

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