Peru’s new amnesty law for human rights abuses sparks anger and international appeal
Lima, Peru (AP) – Lawyers of victims of victims of human rights victims during the armed conflict of Peru promised to appeal to international organizations on Thursday to overthrow a law of amnesty adopted by the country’s Congress in previous night.
The Congress adopted legislation on Wednesday evening to provide an amnesty to the military and civilians prosecuted for serious human rights violations during the country’s armed conflict between 1980 and 2000.
A coalition of human rights organizations declared that the new law could eliminate 156 convictions and 600 other cases which are prosecuted.
The supporters of the law come from right -wing political parties who historically defended the military, including the popular force party led by Keiko Fujimori, daughter of former president Alberto Fujimori.
The law is now awaiting the action of President Dina Boluarte, who can sign it, return it to Congress with her comments or let it become the law in two weeks without touching it. Boluarte made no comments on the amnesty, even before his passage.
There have been many attempts in recent years to protect soldiers and prosecution police in Peru for crimes committed during the conflict. But opponents of amnesty in Peru have already succeeded in international bodies.
The laws on amnesty were adopted in 1995 in Peru, military personnel and the police of prosecution against human rights violations committed during the internal conflict of the country, in particular massacres, torture and forced disappearances.
The Inter -American Court of Human Rights has at least twice declared the laws of amnesty in Peru invalid for having violated the right to justice and breaks the international standards of human rights.
“We are not only in the national arena to request its invalidation, but we have already taken measures at the international level,” said lawyer Gloria Cano, director of Pro Human Association on Thursday during a press conference. She said that they had already alerted the Inter -American Commission on Human Rights and the Inter -American Tribunal on Human Rights and also planned to go to the United Nations.
Defenders of human rights believe that Peru’s membership of the interamerician system of human rights and the obligations that imply, make the law of amnesty unconstitutional.
Fernando Rospiglioso of the popular Force Party, which supports the amnesty, said in June that only a tiny fraction of the hundreds of cases against soldiers and the police for abuse between armed conflicts from 1980 to 2000 led to convictions.
“Many of them (the accused) are no longer with us, others aged in silence subject to endless proceedings,” he said.
A truth commission determined that the majority of the victims of the conflict were Aboriginal Peruvians captured between the security forces and the rebel group Shining Path. The commission calculated some 70,000 people was killed in the conflict.
