Klein is in the Clear

Yair Klein, free to visit Colombia. 

Yair Klein, the Israeli mercenary who trained Colombian paramilitaries during the1980s, is now in the clear, thanks to Colombia's statute of limitations.

Klein was convicted in Manizales in 2001 for collaborating with paramilitary groups, which have committed some of the worst atrocities against civilians in Colombia's long conflict.

The killings committed by paramilitary groups trained by Klein include the 1989 Massacre of La Rochela and the 1997 Massacre of El Aro, in which 15 people were killed. In 2002, a Colombian court convicted Klein in absentia to ten years and eight months of prison.

Klein was arrested in Russia, pending a Colombian extradition request. However, a European human rights court ruled, ironically, that Klein's rights would be in danger if brought to trial in Colombia.

But the Klein case is about far more than one man's impunity. Klein claims that Colombian government officials invited him to come train paramilitaries, and that is believable.  Colombian police and military collaborated in many paramilitary massacres, and even ex-Pres. Alvaro Uribe has been accused of collaborating in the El Aro massacre back when he was governor of Antioquia Province.

Most of Colombia's paramilitary organizations demobilized in the mid-2000s and some of their leaders are now in United States prisons. However, many of those involved in paramilitary atrocities have never been punished.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Jair Klein - Free?

Scot Free?

Israeli mercenary Yair Klein allegedly trained Colombian (and Lebanese) paramilitaries, as well as cocaine king Pablo Escobar's hitmen, who went on to commit massacres. Colombia convicted him en absentia for his crimes here.

In 2007, Klein was arrested in Russia, and there followed a three-year legal battle by Colombia to extradite him. However, the European Court of Human Rights issued an opinion that Klein's rights would be endangered in Colombia. This October, Russian officials decided to follow the court's recommendation and return Klein to Israel, Klein's lawyer just told the Jerusalem Post.

Bones from a mass grave of paramlitary victims.

The case is packed with ironies - the first being this mercenary who has allegedly collaborated with horrendous human rights violations in Colombia, Africa and likely other areas, appealing for mercy on human rights grounds. Most likely, Klein is right when he says he came here train paramilitaries with the blessing of the Colombian government. But does that justify his collaboration? Wasn't obedience to government the defense used by many Nazi war criminals?

It's even more ironic - and sad - to see parts of the Israeli government defending this man, even if he is 'something of a war hero,' as one Israeli tells me. After all, Israel's creation was in great degree a response to state-sponsored massacres.

In January 2011, Colombia asked Israel to extradite Klein. Klein claims that Colombian government officials had invited him to come here and that he didn't know that he was training bad guys.



By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours