I am writing to you on behalf of the British human rights charity, Christian Solidarity Worldwide to express our deep concern at recent reports that President Alan Garcia is planning to make public a list of names of men and women who were imprisoned on charges of terrorism during the 1980s and 1990s. Reports indicate that the list includes between 1800 and 3000 names and includes not only the full names of convicted members of the Shining Path and MRTA, but also men and women who were victims of wrongful imprisonment and were later pardoned or absolved and released. As you are most likely aware, legal provisions to protect due process were largely done away with under the administration of former president Alberto Fujimori and this resulted in hundreds of innocent men and women being detained, tortured, and handed down lengthy prison sentences. It was only after intense international pressure, including pressure from the British government, that the Peruvian government conceded that mistakes had been made and created a mechanism which allowed for the review of cases and the release of the innocent.
Just this week the Peruvian media reported that one newspaper had been allowed access to the full list, and indeed, the newspaper (El Correo) then went on to publish the names of a number of high profile former prisoners. The article included some, Yehude Simon, for example, the current governor of Lambayeque Province , who have been found innocent and released.
As an organisation which has worked for many years on the issue of wrongful imprisonment in Peru , we are worried about the ramifications that the publication of these names will have for these innocent men and women who have struggled to reconstruct their lives following
years in prison and despite the trauma caused by torture and other mistreatment. There is still an extremely negative stigma attached to charges of terrorism and the publishing of their names will likely cause them serious difficulties socially and professionally.
In the wider context, this move, in our view, does little to encourage national reconciliation. Instead, it seems to encourage vigilantism, already a problem in Peru and is not an effective method of addressing the real problem of resurgent guerrilla activity. The proposal also appears to be unconstitutional, something which has been pointed out in condemnations from both the National Ombudsman and the Attorney General as well as from Peruvian human rights organisations.
We would ask the British government to make urgent and strong representations to the Peruvian government against this proposal to publish the names of these men and women. We hope the British government will encourage the Peruvian government to focus on the institutional reforms laid out in the TRC's recommendations. These recommendations were originally set out to address the various inequalities and systemic failures which contributed to the root causes of the conflict and which well may be factors in the resurgent terrorist activity.
The implementation of the TRC recommendations would go much further to achieve the Peruvian government's expressed desire to eradicate terrorist activity than populist measures like publishing the names of thousands of men and women, in effect labelling them all terrorists, in spite of the fact that a significant percentage of them have been proved to be innocent.
We thank you for the work you have already done and are particularly grateful for the work of the British Embassy in Lima in its promotion of respect for human rights in Peru, the protection of human rights defenders and support for the implementation of the TRC recommendations.
Best regards,
Anna-Lee Stangl
CSW Advocacy Officer for Latin America
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