Amnesty International Report 1994 - Uruguay

There were new cases of ill-treatment of detainees and prisoners, including children held in a remand prison. A man was shot dead by police on arrest. Three members of a former armed opposition group were killed in suspicious circumstances. The authorities again failed to take any steps to clarify the fate of those who "disappeared" during the period of military rule or to bring to justice those responsible for human rights violations at that time. In June the Head of Military Intelligence was transferred from his post following allegations that military personnel had been responsible for the abduction in 1992 and possible "disappearance" of Eugenio Berríos, a former Chilean military agent who left Chile in 1991 when summoned to appear in court in connection with the 1976 killing of former Chilean Foreign Minister Orlando Letelier. Although investigations were opened before the civilian courts, at the end of the year the whereabouts of Eugenio Berríos had not been clarified. Ill-treatment by police appeared to be frequent in poor areas of the capital, Montevideo, and other cities. A young man detained in March in the 3rd District police station of Montevideo was tortured with electric prods to make him confess to 14 counts of robbery. A judge confirmed the injuries and two electric prods were seized from the police station. Four police officers were later charged with abuse of authority and with inflicting injuries. In other cases, those responsible for torture or ill-treatment were not brought to justice. In January a disabled man suffered a fractured jaw after reportedly being beaten and subjected to a mock execution at the 4th District police station in the department of Canelones. In August in the Police Headquarters in Montevideo, a young man was allegedly hooded, beaten and tortured with electric shocks in order to make him confess to a theft: on his release, a policeman warned him against reporting the incident. There were reports of ill-treatment of prisoners in Libertad maximum security prison, near Montevideo. Judges from the Supreme Court who visited the prison in June and July reported that conditions were deplorable and provided forensic evidence of beatings of prisoners which was submitted to the Minister of the Interior. Similar information was given to the parliamentary Human Rights Commission by a group of public defence lawyers and also in a report published in August by a non-governmental working group established to study the country's prison system. Judicial investigations were initiated after allegations that in March children held at the Miguelete remand home had been beaten by guards. Fourteen of the 18 children examined bore marks of beatings and three were hospitalized. The director and five police officers were convicted of inflicting serious personal injuries in connection with the incident and the home was closed. In July the Instituto Nacional del Menor, National Children's Institute, which ran Miguelete, was ordered to pay compensation to the family of Rafael Berón Charquero, a 16-year-old who committed suicide allegedly after being ill-treated there in 1991 (see Amnesty International Reports 1992 and 1993). Hugo César Almeida Figueroa was shot dead by police after being arrested in connection with a neighbourhood dispute in La Chacarita, a shanty town of Montevideo. Neighbours who said that they saw police beating the man after he had been handcuffed intervened on his behalf; in the ensuing struggle police fired several shots, fatally wounding Hugo Almeida. The judge investigating the incident found insufficient evidence to try the three policemen involved, but witnesses later presented a formal complaint before the courts. Three members of the former armed opposition group, Movimiento para la Liberación Nacional-Tupamaros (MLN-T), National Liberation Movement-Tupamaros, which was active during the period of military rule (1973 to 1985), were killed in circumstances giving rise to suspicions that former or current military personnel might be involved. On 23 April Ronald Scarzella, a member of the Movimiento por la Tierra (MT), Movement for Land, an organization linked to the MLN-T, was found shot dead. A few weeks before, the MT had been the subject of threats and other acts of intimidation including an attack on its property. The day after his killing, Ronald Scarzella's widow received an anonymous telephone call threatening the life of one of her daughters. Neither this case, nor the killing, days later, of two other former MLN-T members, Ruben Larrosa and Francisco Martínez de Cuadro, had been clarified by the end of the year. In September death threats were issued against street children and juvenile delinquents in leaflets distributed in Montevideo by the "Forces against Juvenile Delinquents", a clandestine group believed to include former police and military personnel. The leaflets said that children caught stealing in the city's commercial centre would be killed, but no such killings were reported by the end of 1993. The government took no steps to bring to justice those responsible for killings, "disappearances" and torture during the period of military rule, or to clarify the fate of the victims, although in 1992 the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) had called on the government to do this when ruling that the 1986 Expiry Law (see Amnesty International Reports 1988 to 1992) was incompatible with the American Convention on Human Rights (see Amnesty International Report 1993). The Uruguayan Government responded, jointly with the Government of Argentina, by seeking an "advisory opinion" from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights questioning, among other things, the IACHR's jurisdiction to comment on domestic legislation. In July the Court endorsed the IACHR's authority to find a state in violation of an international instrument to which it is a party. An appeal court upheld the right of Sara Méndez to ascertain the identity of a 17-year-old she believes to be her "disappeared" son (see Amnesty International Reports 1992 and 1993). However, it concluded that the necessary blood and psychological tests could not be carried out without his consent; the young man and his adoptive parents continued to refuse such tests. In February a Uruguayan member of parliament presented a formal complaint before a Paraguayan court, requesting clarification of the fate of two Uruguayan citizens who had "disappeared" in Paraguay in the hands of Uruguayan, Argentine and Paraguayan personnel in 1977 (see Paraguay entry). A senior Uruguayan army officer was summoned to appear before a Paraguayan court but had refused to do so by the end of the year. Documents relating to the "disappearances" of the two Uruguayans had been found in Paraguay in 1992 and revealed that a Uruguayan military intelligence officer had participated in their interrogation. In June Amnesty International wrote to the Minister of the Interior to seek information about the investigation into the killing of Ronald Scarzella and to express concern about reports of ill-treatment of prisoners, including children. However, no response was received.