Controversies in Military Ethics & Security Policy
Eli – Perpetrator and Victim? A Case Report
Note This article contains explicit descriptions of violence against people. If you are sensitive to such content, you may wish to consult a trusted person to discuss the content.
Introduction
Extreme experiences of violence, such as those caused by (civil) war, lead to psychological disorders and social problems for large parts of the affected population. Both victims and perpetrators can suffer severe trauma due to the intensity and variety of violent experiences. Studies show that one third of both victims and perpetrators are in need of trauma therapy. We use the case of Eli[1], an illegal ex-combatant from a paramilitary group in Colombia, to illustrate the connection between violent experiences and traumatization.[2] Civil war, internal displacement, illegal recruitment, kidnappings, disappearances, and murders have shaped Colombia’s history for more than 50 years. At the age of 26, Eli was enrolled in the reintegration program for ex-combatants[3] from illegal armed groups. The program gave him access to trauma therapy – specifically Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET) – due to his psychological distress and trauma symptoms.[4]
NET is based on approaches from modern memory psychology, neuroscience and physiology. After an initial session (diagnostic interview), therapy begins with the client’s life story using the Lifeline Method: Particularly distressing events are marked with stones, and positive ones with flowers, along a line symbolizing the course of life. In the following sessions, usually held weekly, each traumatic event is processed in detail – typically one per session – and the narration is documented in writing. At the beginning of the next session, these narrations are read aloud to the client and corrected if necessary. At the end of the therapy, all narrations are given to the client. In the project Eli participated in, a detailed follow-up assessment was carried out six months after the therapy ended. An additional follow-up assessment was conducted one year later.
Initial session (diagnostic assessment)
Eli arrived on time for the psychological diagnostic assessment, wearing blue jeans and a dark T-shirt. He carried a backpack that he never took off. He appeared tense – his right leg was shaking noticeably, and he kept fiddling with a ballpoint pen. Being in a closed room clearly made him uneasy. Despite this, he remained attentive and engaged with the therapist.
Eli reported that he was in a marriage-like relationship and has a two-year-old daughter. He joined a paramilitary group at around 8 or 9 years old because his mother had severely beaten and abused him. He was with the armed group for about 12 years before leaving in 2006. He then lived in another city but left after receiving death threats. He said he was able to continue his education at his current place of residence.
During his time in the paramilitary group, he went through numerous highly stressful events, including arson, ambushes, and armed combat. However, in the diagnostic interview, he identified the following as the two worst events of his life: First, an incident in 2001 in which he was ambushed, believed he was going to die, and was shot in the heel. Second, his time in prison from 2003 to 2005. After his release, he rejoined the paramilitaries for another five months.
Eli reported that his time in captivity had a profound impact on his life and mental health due to the intense violence he witnessed there, including executions, torture, and various acts of aggression between prisoner groups (guerrillas and paramilitaries). He said a cellmate whispered, “The guerrillas are coming!” into his ear at night while he was asleep. This filled him with such fear that he panicked and ran to the toilets. Since then, he has experienced flashbacks and dissociation whenever he hears a similar sound at night – even something as ordinary as a neighbor’s voice through the window. Eli spoke of recurring disturbing dreams in which he is being murdered. He often wakes up during the night and has trouble falling back asleep. He would like to take sleeping pills, but hasn’t been able to get any.
Eli was afraid that his fellow trainees might tell their parents he had been part of a paramilitary group. He said he felt excluded and isolated from others, was clearly reluctant to talk, and preferred to remain silent. He rarely leaves the house – only to attend classes or appointments related to the reintegration program.
He added that he got agitated easily and quickly became aggressive, but the psychosocial workshops in the program had helped him gain some control over these reactions. It was noticeable that he constantly scanned the room and reacted to the slightest noise – an indication of hypervigilance. He reported that when he left the house to walk the streets, the sound of a motorcycle approaching from behind frightened him – he thought someone was coming to kill him.
These experiences make Eli feel deeply unsettled, and he recognizes that the symptoms disrupt his everyday interactions with family and friends. He was therefore interested in treatment to help him manage his intense tension and dissociative episodes. He was also deeply afraid that he might harm his partner, daughter, or mother-in-law during one of his flashback episodes.
Narration: “First death of a female comrade and first experience of mutilation”
To illustrate the severity of the stressful situations Eli endured, the following presents an almost unabridged account of a therapy session. NET therapy involves guiding the client through the stressful event carefully and in detail. The goal is to link the traumatic elements to autobiographical memory in a way that allows the memories to be organized and managed in the future.
“Once, we were in a training camp when the commander came in and said there was a guerrilla who had infiltrated our group – and that he knew who it was. He said that if the person stepped forward, he would let them live. I was deeply shocked by the news [...] and also very afraid he might think I was the one who had been planted. The commander stepped away for a moment. I quickly wrote a note for him. I told him my name and that I was the brother of a notary he knew. I wanted to save my own skin and show the commander that I wasn’t a guerrilla.
The commander came back in and asked if the infiltrator was ready to reveal himself. I quickly handed him the note I had written. I was very scared and anxious to see what would happen. When the commander read the note, he said nothing – he just told me to sit down. Suddenly, a colleague – a beautiful, dark-skinned girl – stood up and went to speak with the commander. We couldn’t hear what they were saying. It seemed like she was the one who had been planted.
The commander didn’t say anything to us – he just left, and we had no idea what was going to happen. I was very confused. Then the commander returned and told me and four other comrades to come with him. The girl came with us. I thought we were being taken to another base. We walked a short distance from the camp, and I was struck by how the commander could manipulate, influence, and confuse us. When we reached a fence, the girl bent down to crawl under it, and the commander shot her in the head. She was killed instantly; she didn’t notice anything. I was terrified; my whole body was shaking. What had just happened shook me to the core. At that moment, the commander pulled out a machete and ordered me to cut her up. I didn’t want to do it, but I was terrified he’d do the same to me. I had to undress her; it was horrible. Just in her underwear, I dragged her into a room.
I picked up the machete and began cutting off her right leg. Since I had no experience, I let the machete glide slowly, thinking that would be enough to cut through. But it didn’t work that way. I had to strike with the machete to sever the limb. It was awful; blood splattered on me with the first blow. It’s the worst thing you can go through. I felt cursed, like the devil entered me when her blood splashed on me. When you cut someone up, the body releases a warm vapor that seeps into you. That vapor alters your vision. Before, my vision was normal, now it’s different. I can recognize it.
I was shaking, but I didn’t want them to see it; I was afraid they’d do the same to me. The leg wouldn’t come off. All I wanted was for God to make me disappear. It was terrible; I just wanted it to end quickly. While I was cutting at the leg, my colleagues began severing the other limbs and breasts. The others started digging a hole about 30 by 45 cm in size. It was about one meter deep. After I finished cutting off her leg, the commander told me to cut it at the knee. However, this was even harder since the leg was already detached and now hanging loose. Normally, you only cut just below the knee, but I had no experience and no one gave me any instructions. That made me very angry, but I couldn’t say a word. I just wanted it all to be over quickly. Then the commander ordered me to remove her intestines. It was awful; I had to put my hands inside her body to do it. But the intestines wouldn’t come out because everything is connected to the esophagus, which is attached to the throat. You have to cut from top to bottom first to remove all the intestines.
Normally, when you dismember someone, you don’t remove the intestines; but the commander forced me to do it just to mock me. I wasn't an expert after all. Then he told me to carry the upper body to the hole they had dug. I didn’t want to lift the torso and end up covered in even more blood. So I tried to roll it along the ground, but the commander told me that wasn’t how it was done; I had to lift it. So I lifted it up to chest level. It was horrible; I didn’t know where to hold it, so I had to dig my fingers into the flesh. The flesh was white and soft; it was revolting, and the smell of the body was even stronger up close. I had to carry the torso to the pit and put it inside first. Then I had to place the thighs on top, the lower legs beside the arms, and the head face down on top. Then I threw soil over it and covered the pit.
My shirt was soaked in blood. The commander told me to take it off. So I was just in my undershirt. When we left the camp, it was about half past eight in the morning, and when we returned, it was time for lunch since it was nearly noon. I didn’t want to eat anything; I went straight to the room and lay down on my bed. I stared at the ceiling; I was very sad and distressed. All sorts of thoughts ran through my mind; I thought about my mother, that I wanted to leave, but I didn’t even know where I was. I was very afraid they would harm me if I tried to escape.
I stayed in bed all afternoon, staring at the ceiling. I cried and felt very hopeless. When night fell, I still hadn’t gotten up to eat anything. I stayed lying down. As darkness fell, fear gripped me once more. I couldn't close my eyes because I kept seeing the girl lying at my feet. I saw her alive, in her underwear – just as she was when I had to cut her up. I felt great fear and disappointment. I slept in the same room as four of my comrades, but as soon as I closed my eyes, she was there – right in the middle of us, beside me. I was terrified and sad, and I felt responsible for what had happened. The night felt endless.
The next morning at breakfast, I was still very down and felt everyone staring at me, wondering what had happened. The commander stepped in front of us and commented on the guerrilla fighter, saying she was the infiltrator and that killing her was justified. But he didn’t mention anything about what I had done. From that moment on, I felt persecuted. For me, the feeling of going crazy [Eli used the Spanish word “psicosis”], as well as restlessness and anxiety, began there. I’m still thinking about telling the family where the body is so she can be given a proper burial.”
Image: Eli’s drawing based on the narration above
Key: “Mujer” = woman; “Hombre” = man; “BR” = “brazo” = arm; the grinning head represents the devil; the small dark figure between the sleeping people at the top left is the killed comrade; the commander stands to the left of the grave.
Similar narrations describe other traumatic events where Eli had to kill or mutilate corpses, or faced mortal danger himself.
Eli’s therapy progression
Eli attended all scheduled therapy sessions on time or early. He engaged actively and openly with the Lifeline, showing great interest. Stones and flowers were carefully selected before being placed on the line. He appeared focused and thoughtful, becoming more relaxed and open by the end of the exercise. At the next meeting, he requested a printout of his Lifeline.
He always listened attentively to the narratives from previous sessions, adding details and correcting inaccuracies where needed. He was delighted to hear he would receive the full narrative at therapy’s end and wished to give it to his daughter once she could read. The nightmares and flashbacks decreased after the second exposure session.
During therapy, he gradually opened up to his surroundings and befriended his fellow trainees. He also began a relationship with a female colleague, to whom he confided he was a demobilized combatant. At the same time, he forbade her from sharing this information with others, especially her parents.
In therapy, he said he had shared his experiences with someone for the first time. This made him feel he had an ally, as the therapist shared his shame, guilt, and remorse. He participated actively and openly in psychosocial workshops and, based on his experience, recommended NET therapy to other demobilized people.
Towards the end of therapy, he reported no longer suffering headaches or stiff fingers. His demeanor appeared more confident and self-assured. Six months after therapy ended, the frequency and intensity of his traumatic symptoms had decreased significantly. With the reintegration program funds for his project (beekeeping), in which his girlfriend was also involved, he planned to start a small business. At this point, the feedback from social workers was also very positive. In the meantime, he had completed his training and dared to visit his hometown again. He wished to return there eventually.
Conclusions and evaluations
This case demonstrates how surprisingly successful Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET) can be in some instances. It should be noted that Eli’s entire therapy lasted only 15 hours, measured in standard German therapy sessions.
At this point, we’d like to note that these therapy successes are of course not limited to illegal ex-combatants of armed conflicts. The current NET manual shows[5] numerous worldwide studies confirming its effectiveness in treating post-traumatic stress disorder. International practice (and research) shows that NET treatment in Latin American, African, and Asian crisis zones can be delivered by trained social workers or teachers under supervision. However, German law poses a major hurdle, as curative treatment is initially only allowed by licensed psychological psychotherapists or doctors[6]. It should be considered how a similar service could be offered in Germany, for example, in psychosocial care for refugees, without compromising quality control of therapeutic interventions. In some cases, this might prevent traumatized individuals from losing touch with reality and posing a risk to others.
Eli’s example illustrates a possible spiral or cycle of violence in settings marked by widespread violence, social inequality, and poverty. Extensive research and debate explore sociological, biological, and psychological factors explaining the development of violence. These models include simple learning mechanisms like imitation learning (acquiring violent behavior by copying observed, admired models) and assumptions about an individual’s struggle to survive in hostile environments.
In this case study, separating victimhood from perpetration is often neither helpful nor possible, because both suffering trauma and committing violence can cause equally serious harm to mental health. From a trauma-psychological perspective, single-cause explanations and thus dividing people into groups (like perpetrators and victims) are neither useful nor possible.
From a psychological perspective, the suffering and trauma of both victims and perpetrators must be considered to (re)establish peace and security in society. As in this case study, Eli was initially a victim of various structural, familial, and socio-political violences. This later led him to slip into the criminal structures of the illegal paramilitary group, where he became an increasingly violent perpetrator of atrocities. The ongoing accumulation of traumatic experiences as both victim and perpetrator severely traumatized him and ultimately affected his entire life. The undifferentiated, or equally weighted, processing of all these events – experienced as both perpetrator and victim – helped Eli significantly improve his mental health and ultimately reintegrate successfully into society.
Eli’s case shows that effective treatments exist for those exposed to high levels of violence and should be applied. In our view, this especially applies to people who have not only suffered direct or indirect violence but have also committed acts of interpersonal violence. However, it should be noted that these methods still require further development, and evidence of their effectiveness is so far only preliminary. Trauma-focused therapies that help clients face their traumatic experiences in a safe and supportive setting are currently regarded as the most effective – the gold standard. It should be noted that for perpetrators, these traumatic experiences partly stem from their own violent acts and require special processing focused on related feelings like fear, shame, and disgust to place the trauma firmly in the past. From Bueno’s (2015) reports, however, it can be cautiously inferred that offenders perceive this confrontation in therapy as positive, suggesting that their inadequate and maladaptive experiences – if experienced positively by them – should also be addressed in therapy. Successful trauma therapy therefore leads to a narrative of the client's entire life story, in which all major traumatic experiences are actively processed, but positive, empowering events, including those linked to offenses, are also integrated within a biographical-chronological context.
Some studies also found that traumatized individuals were less willing to reconcile. For example, Bayer, Klasen, and Adam[7] found in a sample of 196 Ugandan and Congolese child soldiers that those with severe PTSD symptoms (35% in this study!) were less open to reconciliation and expressed strong feelings of revenge. Treating traumatic symptoms also reduces feelings of hatred, anger and revenge, as well as resistance to forgiveness and reconciliation.
Society’s pursuit of reconciliation between victims and perpetrators influences both their behavior and experiences. However, reconciliation is a highly complex process that involves various measures and preconditions, such as the truth about the perpetrators’ actions being known – that is, that they speak out – and that they emphatically promise and guarantee not to repeat such deeds. However, perpetrators who were active as simple illegal fighters are usually ashamed of their deeds or crimes, which makes it difficult to speak openly about them and thus to uncover the truth (in the sense of making the deeds known). (Increased tendencies toward aggression and cruelty, along with corresponding acts, were more commonly observed among commanders.[8]) Furthermore, offenders should seek to offer some form of compensation to the victims, within the limits of their available human, economic, and social resources. At the end of the therapy, Eli wanted to tell the police where the bodies of the murdered guerrillas were buried so their families could give them a Christian burial.
We want to make it clear that we are in no way advocating legal equality between victims and perpetrators. However, each side must contribute to successful social reconciliation on its own responsibility, and all those involved must take responsibility for their role: Victims should be prepared to deal with the traumatic events and the consequences of victimization, including a fixation on their status or role as victims, which, on the one hand, can lead to a morbid gain and, on the other, hinders the experience of personal agency and self-efficacy.
This demand may initially come as a surprise. However, it must be kept in mind that in post-conflict countries, many obstacles stand in the way of victims ultimately receiving specialized treatment. The prevailing poverty, daily struggle for survival and constant existential pressure take priority in victims’ everyday lives, causing them to unconsciously place less value on therapeutic services, as these do not directly address their immediate needs. The fact that such services tend to have long-term positive effects is often not truly understood by those affected. Psychology doesn’t matter much when people have nothing to eat or nowhere to sleep.
In Colombia, there are very few state services that specifically address the individual and psychological consequences of experiencing or perpetrating violence. The existing measures focus more on collective reparation and the restoration of rights. These services may be helpful but are not sufficient to fully repair the harm done to the integrity of the individual. Some services also fall short because victims simply don’t have the time to make use of them. In Colombia, as in other countries, there is a legal framework in place to bring about peace after internal conflicts, but the measures are sometimes only on paper, as a lack of structures, resources, proven therapy models, and justice prevents these laws from being translated into concrete action plans.
In societies with a transitional justice system addressing crimes from a community’s violent past after social upheaval, it must be carefully considered that legal measures do not primarily benefit the perpetrators – for instance, by allowing their crimes to go unpunished through amnesties or shielding them from accountability. For the victims, on the other hand, it is essential to ensure that the perpetrators’ impunity does not deepen their sense of abandonment and powerlessness. In general, it is important to recognize that the reparations victims receive are often far from adequate compared to what they’ve been through.
In Colombia, for example, perpetrators can be sentenced to a maximum of eight years in prison even after serious crimes such as crimes against humanity (including forced recruitment of child soldiers, massacres, and large-scale drug trafficking) come to light. Many important perpetrators, especially commanders known for atrocious crimes, have already served their sentences and are free again, which victims often experience as an injustice and which, in turn, makes reconciliation more difficult.
From a psychological perspective, it must also be noted that perpetrators without treatment who suffer from severe traumatic consequences of violence and consequently exhibit a high degree of aggression are at high risk of being recruited again and are more susceptible to reoffending. After formal peace agreements were signed in Colombia, which included the demobilization of illegal paramilitary groups (2004-2006) and the FARC guerrilla group (from 2016), some of those demobilized formed new criminal gangs that financed themselves among other things through drug trafficking. In addition, new members are recruited – mainly children and young people from poor neighborhoods in large cities, but also from rural areas –who also commit murders and assassinations. The alleged assassin who shot down potential presidential candidate Miguel Uribe on June 7, 2025, had even participated in a government violence prevention program for youth at risk of delinquency (“pagar para no matar” = “money to prevent murder”). However, this program focuses exclusively on providing economic support to young people; it does not include any psychological intervention.
The path to establishing long-lasting and stable peace in societies with strong inequalities or even in war zones is long and arduous. It requires many changes, from the micro level (apartment building, neighborhood) to the macro level (political) of a country. All areas and institutions of society must be involved in this process and take an active part in it. This includes, in particular, an understanding and consensus on how the bio-psycho-social consequences of violence can be alleviated or even healed. It must be taken into account that this process may span several generations.
[3] We wish to emphasize that a significant number of girls and women have been, and continue to be, active in both paramilitary and guerrilla groups in Colombia (see Bueno Castellanos [2015], endnote 2: approximately one third).
[4] Schauer, Maggie, Neuner, Frank and Elbert, Thomas (2024): Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET). 3. ed. Göttingen.
[6] Cf. also Sanftenberg, Linda, Beutel, Antina, Friemel, Chris Maria, Kosilek, Robert Philipp, Schauer, Maggie, Elbert, Thomas et al. (2023): Barriers and opportunities for implementation of a brief psychological intervention for post-ICU mental distress in the primary care setting – results from a qualitative substudy of the PICTURE trial. In: BMC Primary Care 24:113. doi.org/10.1186/s12875-023-02046-0.
[7] Bayer, Christophe Pierre, Klasen, Fionna and Adam, Hubertus (2007): Association of Trauma and PTSD Symptoms With Openness to Reconciliation and Feelings of Revenge Among Former Ugandan and Congolese Child Soldiers. In: JAMA: Journal of the American Medical Association 298(5), pp. 555-559. doi.org/10.1001/jama.298.5.555.
[8] cf. Bueno Castellanos, Claudia Patricia and Perleth, Christoph (2023): Die Traumata der Täter und Täterinnen. Psychische Folgen von Gewalterfahrungen bei Kämpfern und Kämpferinnen in Kriegsgebieten. In: reportpsychologie 3/2023, pp. 7-11.
Dr. Claudia Patricia Bueno Castellanos (Klinische Psychologin) hat in lateinamerikanischen Kriegsregionen psychische Belastung von Tätern und Opfern erforscht und dazu an der Universität Konstanz promoviert. Sie engagiert sich in Diagnostik und Behandlung von Traumafolgestörungen bei Opfern und illegalen Ex-Kombattanten in Kolumbien und bietet dazu Ausbildungen und Supervision für lokale Fachkräfte an. Seit Frühjahr 2021 ist sie als wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin an der Universität Rostock tätig.
Christoph Perleth
Prof. Dr. Christoph Perleth hat an der Universität Rostock eine Seniorprofessur für Pädagogische und sonderpädagogische Psychologie inne. In der Bund-Länder-Bildungsinitiative „Leistung macht Schule“ setzt er sich derzeit dafür ein, Schule und Unterricht so zu gestalten, dass auch die Begabungen und Leistungen von Schülerinnen und Schülern mit Migrations- und Fluchthintergrund im Interesse einer Erhöhung der Bildungsgerechtigkeit gefördert werden.
