For human rights groups, the new Peruvian law is a “covert amnesty” for the prosecution of military personnel who committed crimes against humanity between 1980 and 2000.
The Peruvian government has approved a law declaring that crimes against humanity committed before 2002 have been subject to a statute of limitations, an initiative that will benefit former President Alberto Fujimori and 600 military personnel who are being prosecuted. In an interview with RFI, Fabián Salvioli, former UN Special Rapporteur for Truth, Justice, Reparation and Guarantees of Non-Reparation, explained that Peru would be violating international laws and that there would be international sanctions.
“The law is absolutely contrary to the international obligations of the Peruvian State,” Fabián Salvioli, former UN Special Rapporteur for Truth, Justice, Reparation and Non-Reparation Guarantees, told RFI.
Promulgated by the Peruvian Congress on August 9, the text nullifies the prosecutions for alleged crimes committed during the internal conflict or “war against terrorism,” which left more than 69,000 dead and 21,000 missing between 1980 and 2000.
“No one shall be prosecuted, convicted or punished for crimes against humanity or war crimes for acts committed prior to July 1, 2002,” a date that, according to this rule, marks the entry into force of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court in Peru.
“No event prior to that date can be classified as a crime against humanity or war crime,” states the law, which will come into force on August 10.
Impunity Law
For human rights groups, it is a “covert amnesty” for the prosecution of military personnel who committed crimes against humanity between 1980 and 2000. It would also benefit former President Alberto Fujimori, who ordered two massacres of civilians in 1991 and 1992, in addition to having implemented a “demographic control campaign” that consisted of forced sterilization of women between 1996 and 2000.
This law “prevents the continuation of the trials currently underway against former President Fujimori and also implies the immediate release of those who are being prosecuted or convicted of this type of crime,” explained Salvioli. “It is reprehensible from an ethical and legal point of view, and it also involves re-victimization… This is unacceptable.”
For its part, the Peruvian government maintains that the Convention on the Non-Applicability of Statutory Limitations to War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity will only be applicable to Peru after 2002.
International sanctions
“There is no need to be Nostradamus,” said former UN special rapporteur, “[las autoridades internacionales] They are going to condemn the Peruvian State.”
“Peru will certainly receive condemnations from the bodies that monitor the obligations of the State, such as the Inter-American Commission and Court of Human Rights, or from the United Nations Human Rights Committee.”
Peruvian authorities will be held accountable when the reports that States submit to United Nations bodies, such as the Human Rights Committee, the Committee against Torture, the Committee against Disappearances, “and even CEDAW” are examined. [órgano de la ONU encargado de eliminar la discriminación contra las mujeres, NDLR] “Because there are facts that have to do with the forced sterilization of women during the Fujimori era,” said Salvioli.
“They will condemn the Peruvian state, that is a 100% guarantee.”
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