Peru: Law on crimes against humanity prior to 2002 comes into force today
AFP and Europa Press
The newspaper La Jornada
Saturday, August 10, 2024, p. 22
Lima. Peru yesterday passed a law declaring that crimes against humanity committed before 2002 in the fight against guerrillas have been barred by the statute of limitations, an initiative that will benefit former President Alberto Fujimori and 600 military personnel on trial.
Pushed by the right-wing majority that controls the unicameral Parliament and despite the rejection of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR), the law was published in the official gazette after the government decided not to comply with it.
The text annuls proceedings for alleged crimes committed during the internal conflict or war on terroraccording to the authorities of the time, which left more than 69 thousand dead and 21 thousand missing between 1980 and 2000.
The standard states that No one shall be prosecuted, convicted or punished for crimes against humanity or war crimes for acts committed prior to 1 July 2002.when the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court came into force in Peru.
No event prior to that date can be classified as a crime against humanity or war crimes.highlights the law that comes into force today.
Peruvian authorities maintain that the new legal framework serves to clarify the application and scope of crimes against humanity and war crimes in local legislation.
The government denied that it was a covert amnesty or impunity lawas human rights groups and relatives of victims of massacres committed by the military between 1980 and 2000 claim. The controversy lies in the fact that the provisions of the Rome Statute and the Convention on the non-applicability of statutes of limitations to war crimes and crimes against humanity are applicable to Peru only after the law is published. So from the point of view of the immediate application of the criminal law, it is not true that the law promotes impunity.declared yesterday the head of the cabinet Gustavo Adrianzén.
Among others, this law benefits former President Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000), sentenced in 2009 to 25 years in prison for ordering two massacres of civilians carried out by the army in 1991 and 1992.
The 86-year-old former president was released on December 7, 2023 thanks to a humanitarian pardon, after 16 years in prison, but he is pending a trial for the Pativilca case, in which he is accused of being the mastermind behind the murder of six farmers in 1992, for which he could return to prison.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, yesterday denounced the Peruvian Congress’ approval of this bill, which he considers contrary to international law.
I deeply regret that in Peru a law is going to come into force that contravenes the country’s obligations under international law and it is a worrying fact.he indicated.