AI on Peru 1993

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

/* Written  7:20 pm  May 29, 1993 by igc:hnaylor in gn:ai.general */
/* ---------- "PERU: AI writes to Fujimori" ---------- */
Amnesty International
International Secretariat
1 Easton Street
London WC1X 8DJ
United Kingdom

DATE: 25 MAY 1993

         PERU: AI WRITES TO PRESIDENT FUJIMORI REGARDING ALLEGATIONS
          MADE BY AN ARMY GENERAL OF EXTRAJUDICIAL EXECUTIONS BY THE
                                SECURITY FORCES

Amnesty International wrote to President Alberto Fujimori on 24 May regarding
a signed statement by General Rodolfo Robles Espinoza, former division general
and head of the Instruction and Doctrine Command of the Peruvian army. In his
statement, he alleges that a military detachment linked to the intelligence
services has been responsible for carrying out unlawful killings. In its
letter, Amnesty International urged the President to take all the necessary
steps to ensure that a full, impartial and independent public enquiry be
promptly conducted into the allegations.

The full text of the letter to President Fujimori follows:

Amnesty International has learned with grave concern of the serious
allegations made by General Rodolfo Robles Espinoza, former division general
and head of the Instruction and Doctrine Command of the Peruvian army, of the
existence of a military detachment linked to the intelligence services which
has been responsible for carrying out unlawful killings.

As you know, General Robles issued a signed statement on 5 May 1993 in which
he accuses the military detachment of at least three killings: the massacre of
a professor and ten students from La Cantuta University, near Lima, in July
1992; the massacre of some 15 men, women and children in the Barrios Altos
neighbourhood of Lima, in November 1991; and of the murder of "the engineers
in Huaral". This last allegation could be a reference to three Japanese
agricultural engineers killed on 12 July 1991 at an agricultural centre in
Huaral, department of Lima. At the time the killings were attributed by the
press to "hooded" members of an annihilation squad attached to the armed
opposition group Partido Comunista del Per# (Sendero Luminoso), PCP, Communist
Party of Peru (Shining Path). In addition General Robles names an officer whom
he claims was at the head of a military detachment alleged to have abducted
and killed lawyer Manuel Febres Flores, in Lima, in July 1988.

The detailed claims made by General Robles with regards to the killing of the
professor and ten students corroborates, in many aspects, the allegations
contained in an unsigned document brought before Congress by parliamentarian
Henry Pease at the beginning of April 1993. This document was said to have
been written by a group of army officers who identified themselves with "a
full respect for human rights", and who claimed that the killings were carried
out as a reprisal for the explosion by the PCP of a car bomb in July 1992, in
a residential street in Miraflores, Lima. As you know, 22 civilians were
killed and some 200 injured as a result of this criminal attack. General
Robles' claims about the La Cantuta University case are also in keeping with
the testimonies of witnesses to the abduction of the professor and students.

Amnesty International is not in a position to verify the accuracy or otherwise
of these serious allegations made against the Peruvian National Intelligence
Service, the Army Intelligence Service, and the Army Intelligence Directorate;
and against individuals attached to these and other army units and command
structures. The organization does believe, however, that all the allegations
must be promptly and thoroughly investigated by a competent and independent
body, and those found responsible brought to justice.

Amnesty International is aware that an inquiry into the La Cantuta University
case has already been initiated by a military tribunal. The organization has
also been informed that an investigation into the case has been formally
opened by a prosecutor attached to the Public Ministry. As you know, in Peru,
in the event of two jurisdictions initiating an investigation into the same
alleged crimes, the Supreme Court of Justice is obliged to decide which
jurisdiction has the responsibility for taking forward the investigation and
opening trial proceedings against those alleged to be responsible. However, in
the past the Supreme Court of Justice has nearly always ruled in favour of
human rights cases being assigned to the military courts.

In the event of such a ruling, military court decisions in Peru almost
invariably contribute significantly to impunity. The United Nations Working
Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, in its 1991 report to the
United Nations Commission on Human Rights, said of military courts handling
human rights cases:

"A recurrent theme in times of internal crisis or under the doctrine of
national security is that the military personnel attested to have engaged in
gross misconduct against civilians hardly ever see their cases investigated in
any  rigorous manner. In the few cases which are brought to trial, they are
almost invariably acquitted or given sentences that, by any standard, are
grossly disproportionate to the crime committed."

The general phenomenon described by the Working Group has been amply
documented by Amnesty International in Peru. In the context of military
counter-insurgency operations over the past ten years, Peruvian military
courts have consistently failed, with only two known exceptions, to convict
armed forces personnel alleged to have violated human rights.

It is in this context that I am respectfully urging you, as Commander-in-Chief
of the Armed Forces, to order that the investigation being carried out by the
military court be stopped. I am also respectfully urging you, as President of
the Republic, to take all the necessary steps to ensure that a full, impartial
and independent public inquiry be promptly conducted into the extremely
serious allegations made by General Robles. Such an inquiry should include
within its terms of reference an investigation into all the killings
identified by General Robles, and into the alleged existence within the
intelligence services of a special military detachment responsible for these
and possibly other killings. The findings of such an inquiry should be made
public and those found responsible for the killings should be brought to trial
before an independent, impartial and competent civilian court.

I would like to reaffirm Amnesty International's unqualified opposition to the
thousands of cases of torture and deliberate and arbitrary killings by the
clandestine PCP and by the Movimiento Revolucionario T#pac Amaru, T#pac Amaru
Revolutionary Movement. These atrocities have been, and continue to be,
directed against defenceless civilians and members of the security forces who
were hors de combat. Amnesty International recognizes the right of the
authorities to control the activities of the PCP and MRTA. However, the
organization believes that these atrocities by the armed opposition must be
met by a policy and practice which, as you and representatives of your
government have publicly affirmed on numerous occasions, adheres to "an
unrestricted respect for human rights".

I am sending a copy of this letter to the Prime Minister and Minister for
Foreign Relations, Mr Oscar de la Puente Raygada; the Minister of Defence,
General EP Victor Malca Villanueva; the Minister of Justice, Mr Fernando Vega
Santa Gadea; and the President of the Armed Forces Joint Command, Commander
General EP Nicol s de Bari Hermoza R!os. I have also decided to make public
the text of this letter.

/* Written  6:56 pm  Aug 10, 1993 by igc:hnaylor in gn:ai.general */
/* ---------- "PERU: AI delegation sees graves" ---------- */
Amnesty International
International Secretariat
1 Easton Street
London WC1X 8DJ
United Kingdom

15 JULY 1993

    PERU: AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL DELEGATION OBSERVES INVESTIGATION OF
GRAVES

During a fact-finding visit to Peru, Amnesty International delegates have been
invited by the Coordinadora Nacional de Derechos Humanos, the national
non-governmental human rights coordinating body, to witness the investigation
of four graves recently discovered on the outskirts of Lima.

      The four graves, located at the kilometre 14 in the road to Cienaguilla,
are reported to contain the remains of nine students and a lecturer of the La
Cantuta university, who were reportedly abducted by the security forces on 18
July 1992.

      The Amnesty International delegates wrote to Peru's Attorney General,
Dra. Blanca Nlida Col n, on 9 July, urging that the excavation be halted
until international forensic and anthropological experts could attend the
investigation. The delegates also called on the Attorney General to ensure
round the clock protection of the area.

      At the invitation of Amnesty International, two experts of the Argentine
Team of Forensic Anthropology (Equipo Argentino de Antropolog!a Forense),
Alejandro Inch urregui and Luis Fonderbrider arrived in Lima on 12 July to
provide expert advice for the investigation of the contents of the graves.

      The Argentinean Team of Forensic Anthropology is a non-governmental
organization of experts of various disciplines who apply their knowledge to
the scientific documentation of human rights violations. Their experts have
carried out investigations in Chile, Bolivia, Brazil, Guatemala, El Salvador,
Philippines, Iraq, Romania and Croatia.

      The main purpose of the presence of these experts in Lima is to obtain a
positive identification of the victims and if possible, to determine the
cause, manner and time of their death.

      Amnesty International's delegation, comprising two International
Secretariat staff members, Peter Archard and Guadalupe Marengo, arrived in
Peru on 4 July to research human rights violations in the country.

      For further information, please see Amnesty International documents:
Peru: "Disappearance" of a Lecturer and Nine Students, (AI Index:AMR 46/45/92,
46/09/93); and Peru: Army Seeks Cover-up of Summary Killings, (AI Index: AMR
46/12/93).


/* Written  7:00 pm  Aug 10, 1993 by igc:hnaylor in gn:ai.general */
/* ---------- "PERU: DP proposal violates HR Conv" ---------- */
Amnesty International
International Secretariat
1 Easton Street
London WC1X 8DJ
United Kingdom

16 JULY 1993

        PERU:  DEATH PENALTY PROPOSAL VIOLATES HUMAN RIGHTS CONVENTION

Amnesty International is deeply concerned that Peru's Congress is debating
extending the scope of the death penalty in the Constitution to include
"crimes of terrorism and treason". Under the present Constitution, capital
punishment may only be applied for the crime of treason in times of war with a
foreign power.

      The organization calls on the international community and all
governments to communicate to the Peruvian authorities their rejection of the
proposal, and further urges that the death penalty be absolutely abolished in
Peru.

      By incorporating a broadened death penalty into the Constitution, Peru
would be violating the American Convention on Human Rights. The Convention,
which Peru ratified in 1978, explicitly prohibits any extension of the death
penalty (Article 4.2), and prohibits its application for political offences or
related common crimes (Article 4.4). Both these prohibitions are enshrined
within the Convention's Article 4, regarding the right to life. State parties
cannot derogate from Article 4, one of the central tenets of the Convention,
under any circumstances whatsoever.

      Amnesty International believes that by widening the scope of the death
penalty the Government of Peru would also be seriously undermining the spirit
in which the American system for the protection of human rights has been
strengthened over the past two decades. The inclusion of the death penalty in
the new Constitution would mean a step backwards in a long- standing tradition
within Latin America, which has led the world's abolitionist movement.
Amnesty International opposes the death penalty as a matter of principle,
considering it to be a violation of the right to life and the ultimate form of
cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment inflicted by the State. The
organization considers it to be a penalty which is not justified under any
circumstances. The organization also believes the death penalty does not
fulfil any penal objectives which could not be achieved equally by other forms
of punishment.

      Proposals to extend the death penalty have been argued for in Peru
against a background of widespread and repeated atrocities by the clandestine
armed opposition group Partido Comunista del Per# (Sendero Luminoso), PCP,
Communist Party of Peru (Shining Path). These include thousand of cases of
deliberate and arbitrary killing of defenceless civilians and of members of
the security forces who have laid down their arms, or who, through sickness,
wounds, detention, or any other cause, are hors de combat. Similar abuses have
been perpetrated by the Movimento Revolucionario T#pac Amaru, MRTA, T#pac
Amaru Revolutionary Movement.  Amnesty International has repeatedly expressed
its unqualified condemnation and opposition to such abuses.


/* Written 10:02 pm  Sep  3, 1993 by igc:hnaylor in gn:ai.general */
/* ---------- "PERU: "Shining Path" massacre" ---------- */
Amnesty International
International Secretariat
1 Easton Street
London WC1X 8DJ
United Kingdom

25 AUGUST 1993

PERU: AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL CONDEMNS "SHINING PATH" MASSACRE OF
ASHANINKA

Amnesty International is deeply concerned about the massacre of at least 62
people, including women and children, by attackers identified as members of
the clandestine armed opposition group Partido Comunista del Per# (Sendero
Luminoso, PCP, Communist Party of Peru (Shining Path)), on 19 August 1993 in
the province of Satipo, Jun!n Department, Peru. The majority of the victims
came from 12 indigenous communities of the Ashaninka ethnic group.

      According to information received from a church commission that visited
the area and interviewed survivors of the massacre, members of the PCP carried
out the mass killings. Approximately 70 assailants, presenting themselves as
members of army controlled civil defence patrols, arrived in the 12 villages
in Satipo province in the early evening of Wednesday 18 August. The assailants
were armed with spears, machetes and axes. The aggressors killed women, men
and children in every community and left the area on the morning of Thursday
19 August. Many of the victims were said to have been severely mutilated
before being killed. A number were seriously wounded, including eight children
and one woman, who have been transferred to Lima. The rest of the wounded are
being treated in the vicinity. At least seven hundred people are estimated to
have fled the area and become internal refugees.

      This is not the first time that the PCP has carried out massacres among
the Ashaninka population in the province of Satipo. Deliberate and arbitrary
killings by the PCP were investigated by Amnesty International delegates
during recent visits to Peru, including several perpetrated in Ashaninka
villages in the districts of R!o Negro and San Mart!n de Pangoa, Satipo
province.

      On 17 May 1990, some 30 men, women and children who lived in a communal
indigenous family house in the Uni"n Alto Saniveri settlement were killed.
According to the recorded testimony of one of the community leaders, the
massacre was a reprisal for the community having refused to join the ranks of
the PCP.

      Amnesty International condemns the torture and killing of prisoners and
other deliberate and arbitrary killings carried out either by groups such as
the PCP or by the security forces. The organization therefore urges the PCP to
publicly repudiate the massacre and to halt further deliberate and arbitrary
killings and torture.

      Amnesty International also urges the Peruvian authorities to take all
necessary steps to ensure that the people in the area affected by this
atrocity are given adequate protection, and that an immediate, thorough and
impartial investigation into the massacre is carried out.

      Amnesty International has received reports on summary executions and
massacres since 1980; on several occasions entire communities have been wiped
out. These atrocities have been committed by the PCP as well as by government
military forces and military-run civil defence patrols.

      The PCP has declared that those communities that do not support them are
against them and are therefore subject to reprisals. On the other hand, if
these communities are seen to be collaborating - voluntarily or involuntarily
- with the PCP they may suffer retaliation from the security forces. In the
words of one peasant: "We are between a sword and the wall.  If the
authorities do not eliminate us, we are eliminated by Shining Path."




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