News round-up

Chile
The former head of the secret police in Chile under Pinochet,  Manuel Contreras Sepúlveda, and four other former officals of the DINA have been sentenced to 15 years in prison for the disappearance of a young man in 1975.
Condenan a cinco represores de la dictadura chilena (Agencia Pulsar)

Pinochet regime spied on foreign media correspondents, recently uncovered documentation shows.
Revelan que gobierno de Pinochet habría espiado a corresponsales extranjeros (La Tercera)

Mexico
Experts say post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and acute depression are on the rise in Mexico as a result of the increasing violence seen over the last few years.
Mexico’s Spiral of Violence Causes Spike in PTSD (IPS)

Peru
In the next stage of the furore created by the recent Colina Group ruling, human rights organisations in Peru are planning Friday to present a request to the National Magistrates Council to remove Javier Villa Stein from the presidency of the Supreme Court.
Human Rights Groups Seek To Remove Supreme Court Head (Peruvian Times)

“My father has given up on the idea of a pardon because he knows he is innocent and there are no clear and positive signals on the part of the government,” Congressman Kenji Fujimori said.
Alberto Fujimori Has Given Up On Pardon – Report (Peruvian Times)
Kenji Fujimori: "Mi padre renunció a la idea del indulto" (El Comercio)

Peru: More on Colina Group ruling

Amnesty International has called the Peruvian Supreme Court’s recent decision to reduce the prison sentence of members of a paramilitary death squad as “a grave reversal” for human rights in the Andean nation.
Amnesty International Against Grupo Colina Court Ruling (Peruvian Times)

Humala Says State Attorney to Appeal Supreme Court Ruling that Lightens Sentence of Death Squad and Montesinos (Peruvian Times)

Peru: Death Squad Sentences Reduced (New York Times)

Fujimori's lawyer, Cesar Nakazaki, said the Supreme Court's ruling could strengthen an appeal he has been working on for his client.
Fujimori emboldened as Peru court cuts death squad's sentence (Chicago Tribune)

Peru: Montesinos & co. have sentences reduced; "not crimes against humanity"

In a ruling which will dismay human rights activists in the country and beyond, the Peruvian supreme court has cut the sentences of Vladimiro Montesinos and other key perpetrators of state terrorism. The decision affects the so-called "Grupo Colina" responsible for the massacres of La Cantuta and Barrios Altos.

Montesinos and the former generals Nicolás Hermoza Ríos, Julio Salazar and Juan Rivero had their sentences reduced from 25 to 20 years, death squad heads Santiago Martin Rivas and Carlos Pichilingue had theirs cut from 25 to 22 years and other members of the group had their jail terms cut from 20 to 17 years.

One reason given for the reduction was the excessive delays in the trials .

Moreover, the court ruled that the crimes of the Colina group "were against human rights, but were not crimes against humanity". It judged that the group was targeting "terrorists" and not the civilian population as a whole.

Rebajan pena a miembros del grupo Colina (Peru 21)
Poder Judicial disminuyó de 25 a 20 años condena al grupo Colina (El Comercio)
¿Por qué la Corte Suprema rebajó las condenas de Montesinos y el grupo Colina? (El Comercio)
Sala Suprema abre las puertas de la impunidad al grupo Colina (La Republica)

Peru court cuts sentence of top Fujimori aide (AFP)

In my view, the ruling is unfortunate for several reasons:
- It sends a message that the human rights abuses were not as serious as previously thought.
- It also seems to be reverting to a war/two equal enemies theory which positions the killing of civilians as "collateral damage" or crimes by a few "bad apples" among the military. This ignores the entrenched racism in Peruvian society and institutions which contributed to the extreme violence suffered by the indigenous population during the conflict.
- It may raise questions about the sentence of former president Alberto Fujimori himself, as he was convicted of crimes against humanity and the court has now cast doubt on whether there was such a thing. Supreme court judge Javier Villa Stein merely said that the case of Fujimori would have to be looked at separately.
- Finally, there are possible repercussions for other trials involving Colina group members which are still pending.

Peru Round-up (II): Impunity and Intolerance

Accusations have been flying between government ministers and human rights activists over the past week.

Gloria Cano of APRODEH has claimed that the state is trying to create a 'favourable climate' for the release of the members of the paramilitary Grupo Colina.

And in general, groups such as the CNDDHH are denouncing a culture of impunity in the judicial system:

Since early 2009, the Sala Penal Nacional, the highest-level court dealing with the human rights cases against armed forces and police personnel, has acquitted 65 members of the security forces and convicted only 15, according to human rights organisations that defend victims of the 1980-2000 civil war. (IPS)

In the face of this, Defense Minister Rafael Rey has said that human rights defenders are "intolerant" and persecuting the armed forces.

In response, Cano has published a truly blistering speech which deserves to be read in full, but here is the opening:

The Peruvian Minister of Defense, Rafael Rey, has accused the defenders of human rights of being intolerant. And I respond, Mr. Minister, that you are correct: we are intolerant.

And we won’t stop being intolerant in the face of the crimes committed against our people, nor in the face of governmental abuse of or apathy before the outcry of hundreds of Peruvians—of women, children and families that, thirty years after the start of the internal armed conflict, continue to search for the bodies of their children, husbands, brothers and fathers that have disappeared. They continue hoping to uncover the truth and achieve justice.

We are intolerant when the state—whose role is to protect the life and integrity of its citizens—tortures, rapes, and kills in the supposed “defense” of democracy.

Read the whole thing here.

Severe Setbacks for Justice in Cases Involving Military (IPS)
"Buscan excarcelacion del grupo Colina" (La Republica, via APRODEH)
En defensa a militares, ministro Rey desafia a IDL y a CNDDHH (La Republica)

Peru: Under House Arrest

This rogues' gallery is some of the people accused of serious crimes in Peru who aren't in prison, but under house arrest instead. They include people involved in crimes associated with former spy chief Vladimiro Montesinos and the Colina Group. Bit of a light touch from the Peruvian justice system? La Republica calls it "systematic abuse on the part of the courts".

Agentes de 'Colina' y masacrador de Accomarca con arresto domiciliario (La Republica)

Peru News

Drawing my attention today: Otto has picked up on the news that Peru may be looking for a way to kick out Monterrico Metals, the company involved with the Majaz torture case.

Meanwhile, prosecutor Avelino Guillén has claimed that Alberto Fujimori ordered the Cantuta killings in retaliation for the Tarata bombing, which had taken place shortly before. This makes a connection between two of the key events in the Peruvian conflict; the Shining Path bomb in the Calle Tarata hit city dwellers in affluent Miraflores, causing great loss of life - impossible to ignore, when those primitive Indians getting themselves killed in the highlands were more easily forgotten. Two days later, nine students and a professor from the university known as 'Cantuta' were abducted by security forces and disappeared. Their bodies were found months later. Apparently they were taken as 'terrorists', which they weren't (and even if they had been, their place would have been awaiting trial, not extrajudicial execution).

The Cantuta massacre was carried out by the military death squad Grupo Colina. Which brings me to my final piece of news: two of its members, Douglas Arteaga Pascual and Ángel Pino Díaz, have been freed. The two have been connected with the Barrios Altos massacre, but apparently, despite the evidence against them, the Human Rights Prosecutor has not acted fast enough in bringing a case. We've already seen in Argentina that not adhering to the bureaucratic rule of law is enough to get major human rights abusers out on the street again.

News Headlines

Argentina: on the hunt for Aribert Heim, Nazi-hunter says he's closing in on 'Dr Death' (Yahoo)

Argentina: the 14th anniversary of the attacks on the AMIA, Jewish cultural centre in Buenos Aires, in which 85 people died.
En un nuevo aniversario del atentado a la AMIA, volvieron los reclamos al Gobierno y la Justicia (Clarin)

Peru: this can't be good for Peruvian President Alan Garcia. IPS is reporting that members of the shadowy paramilitary group Rodrigo Franco Commandos (CRF) are to be prosecuted for crimes committed during Garcia's first administration (1985-90). There are also alleged links between the CRF and the Colina Group.
Aprista Party Members Under Investigation for '80s Crimes (IPS)