The transitional justice tribunal, established to address atrocities committed during Colombia's decades-long civil conflict, accused the former rebels of torture, murder and forced displacement targeting Indigenous communities.
"Today we are delivering justice to the most forgotten peoples of a segregated Colombia," JEP magistrate Catalina Diaz said. She stated that FARC commanders had ordered subordinates to plant landmines on Indigenous territory and destroy ecosystems the tribes relied on for survival. "These people have had their basic right to exist compromised," Diaz added.
The indictment is the latest step in Colombia's effort to reckon with a conflict that lasted more than half a century. A 2022 report from Colombia's Truth Commission found that 450,664 people were killed between 1985 and 2018 as a result of the conflict, and 121,768 were forcibly disappeared.
Indigenous activists and community leaders welcomed the decision. Yhon Jairo Figueroa, a leader of the Koreguaje tribe, said: "For the first time, the Colombian state recognises that [armed groups] did not just kill individuals. But they attempted to kill the knowledge, the language, the territory."
Three of the accused are former members of the last secretariat of the FARC, which reached a peace agreement with the government in 2016. Indigenous communities continue to face violent attacks in Colombia today, amid ongoing fighting between remaining armed groups.