Peru: More Police Torture

The blog of the National Coordinator of Human Rights has a post which really deserves to be translated into English in full, but since I don't have time right now, I'll give the gist:

It reports that on 15th January, Teobaldo Ventura Rodríguez, a social activist from the Amazonian town of Bagua Grande, was tortured in his local police station.

He was beaten while police taunted him about his political activities. They also inflicted on him the technique known as waterboarding ("sus agresores lo sumergieron repetidas veces en un cilindro con agua, mientras le amenazaban con ahogarlo" - "his attackers submerged him repeatedly in a tank of water, while threatening to drown him").

The following police officers have been identified as the alleged torturers:
- Capitán Gabriel Ramírez Quijandría
- Sub Oficial Técnico de Tercera Segundo Suyón Alvarado
- Sub Oficial Técnico de Tercera Marino Morales Rivas
- Sub Oficial Técnico de Tercera Carlos Frías Centurión

The family of the victim complain that when they complained about his treatment, they were not treated well by the local prosecutor.

And the reason for Ventura Rodríguez's arrest? The police claimed he had been involved in a traffic accident, which he denies.

Read the whole thing in Spanish and see the pictures here.