Amnesty International Report 2000 - Peru

Head of state and government: Alberto Fujimori
Capital: Lima
Population: 24.4 million
Official languages: Spanish, Quechua, Aymara
Death penalty: abolitionist for ordinary crimes

Peru withdrew from the jurisdiction of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in July 1999. Hundreds of prisoners falsely charged with terrorism-related offences remained incarcerated. Journalists, opposition leaders and human rights defenders received threats in what appeared to be a pattern of systematic intimidation against those critical of the authorities. Torture and ill-treatment remained widespread. Civilians continued to be tried by military courts for the terrorism-related offences of "treason" and "aggravated terrorism".

Background

1999 was the last year of President Alberto Fujimori's second five-year term in office. In the run-up to elections scheduled for April 2000, the human rights situation became critical.

In July 1999 the government decided to withdraw with immediate effect from the jurisdiction of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, leaving victims of past and present human rights violations without the possibility of redress from an international tribunal. Thousands of unresolved cases of human rights violations perpetrated by members of the security forces between 1980 and 1995 had already been definitively closed by the 1995 amnesty law. Peru withdrew from the Inter-American Court in the wake of the Court's decision to order the Peruvian state to retry four Chilean citizens convicted of treason by military courts in 1994. However, critics maintained that Peru had in fact withdrawn from the Inter-American Court because the Court was about to review two crucial cases: the case of three judges dismissed from the Constitutional Tribunal in 1997 for having ruled that it was unconstitutional for President Fujimori to run for a third term in office; and the case of Baruch Ivcher, the Israeli-born owner of a television station who was stripped of his Peruvian nationality and forced to relinquish his station in 1997 for having revealed gross human rights violations by the intelligence services.

Harassment and intimidation of journalists through anonymous threats and court action became so commonplace that the international community expressed concern over the interference with freedom of the press.

Concern persisted about the judiciary's lack of independence from the executive. The Constitutional Tribunal, which rules on the constitutionality of congressional legislation and government action, continued to be paralysed. The three judges ousted in 1997 had not yet been replaced, so the Tribunal did not have a quorum and was unable to rule on any constitutional issues. More than half the country's judges had provisional or temporary status, leaving them susceptible to outside pressures.

Human rights defenders called for the establishment of a Truth Commission to clarify human rights violations committed in the country during the internal armed conflict.

The fraction of the armed opposition group Shining Path which rejected a 1992 peace accord was weakened by the capture of its leader in July. However, Shining Path remained active, mainly in the Alto Huallaga region in Huánuco and San Martín departments, in Satipo province, Junín department, and in the provinces of Huanta and La Mar in Ayacucho department.

Prisoners of conscience

More than 200 prisoners of conscience and possible prisoners of conscience, all falsely charged with terrorism-related offences, remained imprisoned. In February AI wrote to President Fujimori expressing concern that he had not been pardoning prisoners as recommended by the Ad Hoc Commission to review cases of people falsely charged with terrorism-related offences. According to reports, the files of 60 people whom the Ad Hoc Commission considered were falsely imprisoned were handed to the President, but he had not yet pardoned them by the end of 1999.

The Ad Hoc Commission's mandate ended in December. Since August 1996, when it was set up, the Commission had reviewed more than 3,000 cases. Of these, 469 prisoners were pardoned and released. At least a further 900 prisoners were absolved by the courts during the same period. However, hundreds of women and men remained falsely imprisoned for terrorism-related offences.

• Nancy Ruiz Nano was detained on 12 September 1992 and sentenced by a military tribunal to life imprisonment for the terrorism-related offence of "treason". The only evidence that the police presented against her was that she used to work as a maid in a house whose occupants were Shining Path supporters.

Risk of detention

Thousands of women and men accused of terrorism-related offences faced detention. Warrants for their arrest were issued against them although the majority were reported to have had no links with armed opposition groups. They were at risk of being falsely charged and imprisoned, especially given the unfair trial procedures to which they would be subjected. Whole communities faced these warrants and lived in fear of being detained.

• In October, 50 peasants from the community of Andarapa, Apurimac department, were finally acquitted. Their ordeal began at the beginning of the 1980s when they were charged with terrorism-related offences. They were absolved by the courts and returned to their communities. However, unknown to them, the police included them in another investigation for the same crimes and issued further arrest warrants. Two of the peasants were detained and sentenced to three and five years' imprisonment in 1996. They were subsequently pardoned by the President for having been falsely imprisoned. The rest had to wait until October 1999 to have their names cleared. Ten members of the community, representing the whole group, appeared before a special court which travelled to the community and acquitted all 50.
• Ninety peasants from the district of Chungui, La Mar province, Ayacucho department, who faced arrest warrants sent five representatives to appear before a special court in April. The court acquitted the five who appeared, but ruled that the remaining 85 had to be tried before their cases could be decided.

Unfair trials

Civilians continued to be tried by military courts for the terrorism-related crime of "treason". Intergovernmental bodies such as the UN Committee against Torture and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights reiterated their concern at the use of military courts to try civilians. However, there were no signs of Congress modifying the anti-terrorism legislation and abolishing the use of military courts which are neither independent nor impartial. According to reports, 1,897 people charged with the terrorism-related crime of "treason" were tried by military courts between 1992 and 1999. Of these, 823 were sentenced to prison terms of between 10 years and life imprisonment.

In 1998 a new law to combat crimes committed by gangs of youths came into effect. The law defines these crimes as "aggravated terrorism", and specifies that their trials fall within the military justice system. In November President Fujimori publicly stated that those charged with "aggravated terrorism" should be tried by civilian courts. In late December Congress passed a law which modified the 1998 law, defining crimes committed by youth gangs as "special terrorism" and specifying that these cases should be tried by civilian courts.

Torture and ill-treatment

Reports of torture and ill-treatment by the armed forces and the police remained widespread. Both the 1992 anti-terrorism legislation to combat armed opposition groups, and the 1998 law against "aggravated terrorism", undermine safeguards designed to prevent torture and ill-treatment. Both laws grant extensive powers to the police during the investigation phase. The police have the power to detain a suspect without a judicial warrant or a warrant from the Public Ministry, but have to inform them of the detention within 24 hours. The police are also in charge of the pre-trial investigation. This investigation can be extended for up to 15 days, and for the terrorism-related crime of treason the period can be extended for a further 15 days. During this period the detainee is under the exclusive control of the police, who may request incommunicado detention for up to 10 days. In addition, those convicted have to spend their first year of imprisonment in solitary confinement.

Investigations of alleged torture and ill-treatment by members of the security forces, including cases of death in custody, were opened under 1998 legislation which criminalized torture. However, only in two cases were the perpetrators convicted and sentenced to imprisonment.

In November the UN Committee against Torture reviewed Peru's third periodic report. The Committee expressed concern about "the use of military courts to try civilians; the period of incommunicado pre-trial detention [...] for persons suspected of acts of terrorism; and the special prison regime applicable to convicted terrorists and in particular to convicted terrorist leaders".

• Lucas Huamán Cruz was beaten and forced to confess to theft at the police station in the town of San Francisco, La Mar province, Ayacucho department, in September 1998. Four hours later he was released. He died the following day in his home. One policeman was detained and in May 1999 the provincial attorney in charge of the case stated that there was evidence that the accused was responsible for the crime of torture. However, in October, the suspect was acquitted. The judge claimed that there was insufficient evidence to assume that Lucas Huamán had been tortured.
• Raúl Miguel Andahua was detained in December 1998 by members of the navy in Aguaytía, Ucayali department. He was reportedly beaten and lost consciousness after a stick was inserted into his anus. When he recovered he found himself in a cell, naked and wet. The following day officers allegedly applied electric shocks to his back and forced him to sign a statement confessing to crimes of terrorism. He was also threatened with death if he refused to state that his injuries were the result of a motorcycle accident. He was released without charge. Seven naval officers were charged with torture. However, a military judge asked for the case to be transferred to the military justice system, arguing that the officers had committed a military offence. By the end of 1999 the case was before the Supreme Court of Justice, for a ruling on whether to try the accused before a military or a civilian court.

Harsh prison conditions

Prison conditions remained harsh and in some circumstances amounted to cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.

• In September, three leaders of the Movimiento Revolucionario Túpac Amaru (MRTA),Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement, held in a prison in the Callao Naval Base near Lima, went on a 30-day hunger strike. Víctor Polay Campos, Miguel Rincón Rincón and Peter Cárdenas Schulte were protesting against the prison conditions they had endured for six years. They were held in solitary confinement in underground cells and had no direct contact with their relatives during their monthly visits. Over 50 MRTA inmates at the high security prison of Yanamayo, in Puno department, joined the hunger strike for two weeks.
• In November and December, inmates of the Challapalca prison went on hunger strike to protest against conditions there. The prison, in Puno department, is more than 4,600 metres above sea level, and is extremely cold. The inaccessibility of the prison seriously limits the prisoners' right to maintain contact with the outside world, including with relatives, lawyers and doctors.

Intimidation and death threats

Human rights defenders, journalists and opposition leaders faced a rising number of incidents of intimidation, harassment and death threats. There were allegations that the National Intelligence Service was behind the incidents.

• In May an issue of the satirical version of the national newspaper La República called "Repúdica" accused Gustavo Mohme, Congressman and editor of the newspaper, of sympathizing with the armed opposition. The issue also contained death threats directed at La República journalists, apparently linked to various articles in La República about corruption in Peru and to Gustavo Mohme's efforts to unite the opposition for the April 2000 elections.
• In June a box containing what appeared to be a bomb was left in the premises of the Comisión de Derechos Humanos (COMISEDH), Human Rights Commission. COMISEDH's work includes helping torture victims to obtain redress through the courts, and seeking to ensure that the perpetrators are brought to justice.

Women's rights

In February the Latin American and Caribbean Committee for the Defense of Women's Rights (CLADEM) and the Centre for Reproductive Law and Policy published Silence and Complicity . The report detailed cases of rape, humiliating verbal abuse and forced birth control. The vast majority of women who experienced these abuses were young, poor or from rural or marginalized urban areas.

In May the government approved a law allowing courts to prosecute offenders implicated in sexual assault cases without the victim filing charges. Courts were also to assume the costs of the trial under the new law. Women's rights groups applauded the measure, arguing that most women in Peru did not file charges against rapists for fear of retaliation, distrust of a male-dominated judicial system or a lack of money.

AI country reports

• Peru: Amnesty International urges President Fujimori to release "innocent prisoners" (AI Index: AMR 46/006/99)
• Peru: Raúl Teobaldo Miguel Andahua – Another victim of torture (AI Index: AMR 46/012/99)
• Peru: Legislation is not enough – torture must be abolished in practice (AI Index: AMR 46/017/99)