AI on Peru - Intro and 1992

["Chris, London" <100423.2040@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Evidence on Peru from Amnesty International

Below are the outstanding entries on Amnesty International's ai.general list
archives on Peru.

They consist of all the 10 entries I could see on Peru by scanning a list
of 1000 titles since June 91. Obviously I may have missed one or two.

AI is not neutral about armed conflict. It will not support movements involved
in armed conflict, which was a problem for example with the Afican
National Congress. (The list contains a very ugly report on
atrocities committed in ANC camps.)

It is possible that its presentation of material
uses different methods for government and opposition.

Nevertheless there seemed to be merit in accessing its archives.

And for the purpose of illuminating the debate, it seemed better not
to select one item over another, even at the cost of length, and inevitable
skimming, it seemed better to avoid selection, to allow people to respond
to the evidence that this provides, both about the scale of the atrocities and
the repression, but also about how the conduct of both the PCP and MTLA
makes it difficult to appeal to liberal international agencies to put pressure
effectively on the government to desist.

I have decided to post in 3 parts

1992
1993
1994

There are no entries apparently for 1991 and 1995.


Chris B
London.




The items are:

1. 1992  Oct 10   ---------- "PERU: Fair trial for Guzman"


2. 1992  Oct 22   ---------- "Fujimori Attacks AI"


3. 1992  Nov  8   ---------- "PERU: urge not to extend DP"


4. 1993  May 29  ---------- "PERU: AI writes to Fujimori"


5. 1993  Aug 10  ---------- "PERU: AI delegation sees graves"


6. 1993  Aug 10 ---------- "PERU: DP proposal violates HR Conv"


7. 1993  Sep  3  ---------- "PERU: "Shining Path" massacre"


8. 1994  Feb 11 ---------- "PERU: Military tribunal"


9. 1994  Feb 26 ---------- "PERU: La Cantuta case - tribunal"


10 1994 Nov  9   ---------- "PERU: Appalling torture record"





/* Written 10:11 pm  Oct 10, 1992 by igc:aiusala in gn:ai.general */
/* ---------- "PERU: Fair trial for Guzman" ---------- */
Amnesty International
International Secretariat
1 Easton Street
London WC1X 8DJ
United Kingdom

DATE: 2 OCTOBER 1992

PERU: AI URGES GOVERNMENT TO GUARANTEE ABIMAEL GUZMAN
A FAIR TRIAL

     Amnesty International wrote to President Alberto
Fujimori on 2 October urging the authorities to ensure that
Abimael Guzm n Reynoso, leader of the Communist Party of
Peru (Shining Path), [for tr: Partido Comunista del Peru
(Sendero Luminoso)], PCP, be given a fair trial. Abimael
Guzm n is currently being tried by a special military court
on criminal charges under Peru's anti-terrorism laws.

      Amnesty International has firmly condemned abuses by
the PCP as well as human rights violations committed by
Peruvian government forces.  In calling for a fair trial for
all political prisoners (including those who have used or
advocated violence), Amnesty International urges governments
to act in accordance with internationally recognized
standards.

      The organization is concerned that the conditions and
procedures under which Abimael Guzm n is being tried may
fall short of international standards for fair trial.
Reports allege that the accused is not being tried by a
competent, independent and impartial tribunal; that since he
was transferred from police to military custody for the
commencement of his trial, he has been allowed only limited
access to his lawyer; and that his lawyer, at least
initially, was obstructed when attempting to gain access to
case records and specific charges faced by his client.

      In calling for a fair trial, Amnesty International
urged that Abimael Guzm n have the right to competent,
independent and impartial tribunal established by law; have
adequate time and facilities, including access to documents
and all necessary evidence, for the preparation of his case;
that he be given adequate opportunity to communicate freely
and privately with his counsel; and that his lawyer be able
to properly counsel and represent his client.

      In the letter the organization stated that it would
appreciate being informed of what concrete steps have been
or will be taken to ensure that the trial of Abimael Guzm n
is conducted within the terms and spirit of the
international human rights standards to which the Peruvian
state as repeatedly declared its adherence.



/* Written  5:28 am  Oct 22, 1992 by igc:hrcoord in gn:ai.general */
/* ---------- "Fujimori Attacks AI" ---------- */
From: Human Rights Coordinator <hrcoord>
Subject: Fujimori Attacks AI

/* Written  1:50 pm  Oct 21, 1992 by nyt@xxxxxxxxxxx in igc:reg.andes */

Via The NY Transfer News Service * All the News that Doesn't Fit

Title: Peru: Newsbriefs Oct 19

El Diario/La Prensa Newsbriefs 19 Oct 92
Excerpted and translated for NY Transfer News
by Toby Mailman

           PERU: FUJIMORI ATTACKS AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

According to Peru's president Alberto Fujimori, Amnesty
International (AI) has "lost credibility" because it reported that
Abimael Guzman, leader of the Sendero Luminoso, may not have had a
fair trial. Rather than denounce the human rights abuses committed
by Guzman and Sendero, said Fujimori, AI treated Gusman as a
political prisoner. The statement was in reaction to a letter sent
by AI to Fujimori on Saturday, October 17, which said that Guzman
had not been tried with appropriate guarantees. Fujimori said he
would turn " a deaf ear" to Amnesty's letter. Peru's newspapers
agreed with Fujimori, saying AI's statement was "impertinent, odd,
political, and pro-extremist, and coming from those who ignore our
reality or in any case, whose objectives have been distorted by
foreign interests." (EFE)


/* Written  4:31 pm  Nov  8, 1992 by igc:aiusala in gn:ai.general */
/* ---------- "PERU: urge not to extend DP" ---------- */
Amnesty International
International Secretariat
1 Easton Street
London WC1X 8DJ
United Kingdom

DATE: 5 NOVEMBER 1992

PERU: AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL URGES GOVERNMENT NOT TO EXTEND THE
DEATH PENALTY

Amnesty International wrote to President Alberto Fujimori on 4 November urging
him not to extend the scope of the death penalty in Peru. It is currently
applicable only for acts of treason committed in times of war with a foreign
power. The letter was sent to the President following his declarations that
the government is to withdraw from its obligations to abide by the death
penalty clauses enshrined in the American Convention on Human Rights ratified
by Peru in 1978.

Amnesty International believes that by taking such a step the Government of
Peru would seriously undermine the protection of the right to life -- one of
the central tenets of the Convention -- and the spirit in which the American
system for the protection of human rights has been strengthened over the past
two decades.

Amnesty International considers the death penalty and extrajudicial executions
by the State, and execution-like killings by armed opposition groups, to be a
violation of the right to life and the most serious example of cruel, inhuman
and degrading treatment.

In the letter the organization also expressed its unqualified opposition to
the deliberate and arbitrary killings by the armed opposition of defenceless
civilians not directly involved in Peru's internal armed conflict. By the end
of October these atrocities, including the execution- like killing of
captives, continued to be perpetrated by the Partido Comunista del Per#
(Sendero Luminoso), PCP, Communist Party of Peru (Shining Path). According to
reports, in one week alone -- between 30 September and 5 October 1992 --
members of the PCP killed Carlos Huam n Magu$a, a judge; Giullio Rocca
Olliani, an Italian priest; Eugenio Cruz Salvador, a mayor; Jacinto Luna Julca
and Juan Moiss Ram!rez Ruiz, college director and teacher respectively; and
Flix Romero Mart!n, an administrator at a pig farm.

The full text of the letter to President Fujimori reads as follows:

      Se$or Presidente de la Rep#blica, I would like to express the deep
concern of Amnesty International on learning that the President has publicly
stated that the government is to take the necessary steps to denounce clauses
on the death penalty enshrined in the American Convention on Human Rights,
also referred to as the Pact of San Jos de Costa Rica. The organization
understands that the government will be taking such steps in order that the
Peruvian state may put into effect legislation which provides for the death
penalty for serious criminal acts, such as acts of treason.

      As a matter of principle, Amnesty International opposes the death
penalty by all appropriate means, considering it to be a violation of the
right to life and the most serious example of cruel, inhuman and degrading
punishment by the State. The organization considers it to be a penalty which
violates basic human rights and which does not fulfil any penal objective
which could not be achieved equally by less severe penalties.

      In past years Amnesty International has called for the abolition of the
death penalty in countries from every region in the world, including where
armed opposition groups have perpetrated large scale atrocities, such as
Cambodia and Mozambique. In both these countries their governments abolished
the death penalty for all crimes at a time when armed opposition groups within
their territories were carrying out widespread killings of non-combatant
civilians.

    As you know, since 1983 the organization has repeatedly and firmly
condemned the torture and killing of people held captive by the armed
opposition in Peru. Following a decision taken by Amnesty International in
September 1991 to extend its condemnation of such abuses, the organization has
expressed its unqualified opposition to the arbitrary and deliberate killing
by these groups of defenceless civilians not directly involved in the armed
conflict, and of the killing of members of the security forces who are hors de
combat, or who have been incapacitated, have surrendered or have been
detained. In the context of these and other persistent atrocities by the armed
opposition Your Excellency and some sectors of Peruvian society have now
called for the death penalty.

      Amnesty International, however, would like to draw the President's
attention to the fact that numerous studies carried out on the death penalty
have not proved that it has a deterrent value greater than that of other
penalties. A study by the UN in 1980 concluded: `In spite of advanced
investigative studies undertaken to determine the deterrent value of the death
penalty, no conclusive proof of its efficiency has been obtained'. Amnesty
International's opposition to the death penalty is worldwide and
unconditional; neither the circumstances, manner nor motives surrounding a
criminal act justifies the use of this penalty, be the accused a member of an
armed opposition group, of the state's security forces, or of any other sector
of society.

      Eighty three countries across all five continents -- almost half the
countries in the world -- are today abolitionist, whether in legislation or in
practice. Since 1976 the pro-abolitionist movement has grown considerably: on
average two countries per year have abolished the death penalty totally or for
all but exceptional crimes.  Among those states which since then have added
their names to this movement are Argentina, Brazil, Canada, El Salvador,
Haiti, Nicaragua, Paraguay and Peru in the Americas; Cape Verde, Namibia,
Mozambique and San Tom and Pr!ncipe in Africa; Cambodia, Nepal and the
Philippines in Asia; Australia, Fiji and New Zealand in Australasia; and 17
countries in Europe, including France, Ireland, the Netherlands, Romania and
Spain.

    Latin America has been at the forefront of the world abolitionist
movement. Your country has played an important part in this movement. On 28
July 1978 Peru ratified the American Convention on Human Rights, and thereby
acknowledged its respect for the right to life (Article 4), including the
clauses which state: "The death penalty will not be reestablished in states
which have abolished it" (Article 4.3) ".... Its application shall not be
extended to crimes to which it does not presently apply" (Article 4.2); and
"In no case shall capital punishment be inflicted for political offences or
related common crimes" (Article 4.4). On 15 December 1989, Peru was one of the
states which, by a majority vote at the UN General Assembly, favoured the
adoption of a second optional protocol to the International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights for the abolition of the death penalty. Peru is also a
member of the Organization of American States which, in its General Assembly
of 4-9 June 1990, decided to adopt without a vote the protocol to the American
Convention on Human Rights relating to the abolition of the death penalty.
That decision was indeed adopted in accordance with the essence of Article 4
of the American Convention on Human Rights, and of the spirit in which the
American system for the protection of human rights has been developed and
strengthened throughout the region over the past two decades.

      In the light of the above commendable record by the Peruvian state in
taking a stand against the death penalty, Amnesty International respectfully
urges Your Excellency to reconsider the public declarations you have made in
favour of such a penalty and to use your power to ensure that it is
definitively abolished in Peruvian legislation.

END of AI on Peru - Intro and 1992




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