Amnesty International Report 1997 - Uruguay

Two prisoners of conscience were imprisoned for 15 days. The "disappearance" and possible extrajudicial execution of a former agent of the Chilean military remained unclarified. The vast majority of human rights violations committed in past years remained uninvestigated. In April, Uruguay ratified the Inter-American Convention on the Forced Disappearance of Persons. The UN Committee against Torture, which reviewed Uruguay's second periodic report in November, urged the authorities to make provision for a clause which outlaws torture. Prisoners of conscience Federico and Carlos Fasano, respectively director and editor of the national newspaper La República, were each sentenced to two years' imprisonment in May under an article of the Penal Code which restricts freedom of expression. Their conviction was based on the publication of newspaper articles about the alleged corruption of Juan Carlos Wasmosy, the President of Paraguay. The judge found that both journalists had infringed Article 138 of Uruguay's Penal Code, which stipulates that it is a criminal offence to question the "honour of foreign Heads of State and their diplomatic representatives". The offence is punishable by between two and nine years' imprisonment. Following national and international appeals, Federico and Carlos Fasano were released by an appeal court two weeks after their detention. However, their release was conditional, pending a hearing before the Supreme Court of Justice which had not taken place by the end of the year. A body found in April 1995 was formally identified in June 1996 as that of Eugenio Berríos, a former Chilean military agent who "disappeared" in 1992. Allegations that Uruguayan military personnel had been responsible for his abduction and "disappearance" in 1992 and subsequent extrajudicial execution remained unclarified (see Amnesty International Report 1994). Despite public statements by former members of the armed forces in February, April and May, which corroborated reports of human rights violations committed under past military governments, no official investigations were carried out into these allegations. In an open letter published in May, former navy captain Jorge Troccoli admitted responsibility for his part in the killing and "disappearance" of several opposition activists during the period of military rule between 1973 and 1985. The letter confirmed statements published in February and April by other former members of the Uruguayan armed forces. The statements also corroborated reports of human rights violations by Uruguayan military personnel and during combined military operations between the Uruguayan and Argentine security forces. These unresolved cases of human rights violations included torture, killings and the "disappearance" after detention of at least 30 people in Uruguay and of more than 100 Uruguayan citizens in Argentina (see Argentina entry). The majority of human rights abuse cases reported after the end of military rule also remained unresolved. In June, Amnesty International wrote to President Julio María Sanguinetti calling for the immediate and unconditional release of prisoners of conscience Federico and Carlos Fasano and for a review by the relevant authorities of Uruguay's Penal Code to ensure that future legislation does not permit the imprisonment of prisoners of conscience. President Sanguinetti replied that he did not have "the constitutional power to imprison or release any prisoner", and that "[w]hether rightly or wrongly, the Judiciary tried [Federico and Carlos Fasano] for having committed a common crime". The organization also urged the authorities to take the necessary steps to clarify the fate of all those who had been victims of "disappearance", and to ensure that all past human rights violations were investigated as required under international human rights standards.