Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders Annual Report 2004 - Peru

International Federation for Human Rights, Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders Annual Report 2004 - Peru, 14 April 2005, https://www.refworld.org/reference/annualreport/ifhr/2005/en/46711 [accessed 19 April 2024]
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Threats against Mrs. Gloria Cano Legua186

On 20 October 2004, Mrs. Gloria Cano Legua, a lawyer and head of the legal department of the Association for the Defence of Human Rights (Asociación Por Derechos Humanos – APRODEH) in Lima, received a threatening text message on her mobile phone while she was at her office. This message was sent from a public phone booth or from the Internet.

On 22 October 2004, Mrs. Cano Legua lodged a complaint right before leaving for Washington to participate in the hearings and work meetings of the IACHR's 121st session. This complaint was presented on 25 October 2004 by the APRODEH to the State public Prosecutor.

Mrs. Cano Legua received this message one day after the APRODEH published a press statement on 19 October 2004, in which the lawyer expressed her concern about the measures taken by the Third Special Criminal Court (Tercer Juzgado Penal Especial), which had accorded, before their sentencing, freedom to Mr. Vladimiro Montesinos Torres, former head of Peruvian secret services and presidential advisor of President Fujimori's administration during his presidency, Mr. Nicola de Bari Hermoza Rios, former General Commander of the army under Fujimori's regime, and Mr. Roberto Huamán Azcurra, former head of the army's intelligence department. These three men were detained for 18 months after the opening of a trial for the murder of three members of the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (Movimiento Revolucionario Tupac Amaru – MRTA) as part of the rescue operation known as "Operation Chavin Huantar" for hostages detained in the home of the Japanese Ambassador in Peru (1997).

Since 2001, Mrs. Cano Legua has been the lawyer for the families of this operation's victims before the national bodies and the IACHR.

In January 2003,187 as well as in March and July 2004, Mrs. Cano Legua and the APRODEH received threats due to their human rights activities. These threats were reported to the police but the case was closed as those responsible were not identified. Furthermore, after the threats received in 2003, Mr. Miguel Jugo, executive director of the Association, asked authorities for measures to be taken to protect APRODEH employees. Such measures had been accorded during five months in 2003 in the form of a police officer protecting the association's property. This protection has again been provided since March 2004, but only during working hours.

Harassment of Pr. Segundo Jara Montejo188

On 20 December 2004, at dawn, 12 members of the Aucayacu national police, Tingo María province, Huánaco department, entered the home of Pr. Segundo Jara Montejo, chairman of the Alta Huallaga Human Rights Committee (Comité de Derechos Humanos del Alto Huallaga – CODAH) and executive director of the Alto Huallaga Human Rights Commission (Comisión de Derechos Humanos "Alto Huallaga" – CODHAH) in Aucayacu. The officers claimed that they had found in the area subversive pamphlets and red fabric, which were supposed to signify the presence of communist activities. During this intervention led by police chief Mr. Abelardo Serpa, Prosecutor Rubén López, accompanying the police, ordered the officers to enter Mr. Jara Montejo's home. Nothing compromising was found.

These events coincided with the opening, at the instigation of human rights organisations, of legal proceedings concerning human rights violations that took place in Peru during the particularly violent period of 1980-2000. These proceedings were the result of the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, created to determine the circumstances of human rights violations committed by the Peruvian State and by armed opposition groups during this period. The Commission's report was published in August 2003.

[Refworld note: This report as posted on the FIDH website (www.fidh.org) was in pdf format with country chapters run together by region. Footnote numbers have been retained here, so do not necessarily begin at 1.]

185. See Annual Report 2001.

186. See Urgent Appeal PER 001/0103/OBS 005.2.

187. See Annual Report 2003.

188. See Urgent Appeal PER 001/1204/OBS 098.

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