Peru’s new amnesty law for human rights abuses sparks anger and international appeal

Lawyers for victims of human rights abuses during Peru’s armed conflict vowed to appeal to international bodies Thursday to knock down an amnesty law passed by the country’s Congress the previous night. Congress passed the legislation late Wednesday to provide amnesty for military members and civilians prosecuted for serious human rights abuses during the country’s armed conflict between 1980 and 2000.

A coalition of human rights organizations said the new law could wipe out 156 convictions and another 600 cases that are being prosecuted. Supporters of the law come from right wing political parties that have historically defended the military, including the Popular Force party led by Keiko Fujimori, daughter of former President Alberto Fujimori. The law now awaits action from President Dina Boluarte, who can sign it, return it to Congress with her comments, or let it become law in two weeks without touching it. Boluarte has not made any comment on the amnesty even before its passage.

There have been numerous attempts in recent years to shield the military and police from prosecution in Peru for crimes committed during the conflict. But opponents of amnesty in Peru have found success before at international bodies. Amnesty laws passed in 1995 in Peru shielded military and police personnel from prosecution for human rights abuses committed during the country’s internal conflict, including massacres, torture, and forced disappearances. The Inter-American Court of Human Rights has at least twice previously declared amnesty laws in Peru invalid for violating the right to justice and breaching international human rights standards.

“We’re not only going to the domestic arena to seek its invalidation, but we’ve already taken some action at the international level,” lawyer Gloria Cano, director of the Pro Human Rights Association, said during a news conference Thursday. She said they had already alerted the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and Inter-American Court on Human Rights and planned to go to the United Nations as well. Human rights advocates believe that Peru’s membership in the Inter-American System of Human Rights and the obligations that entails make the amnesty law unconstitutional.

Fernando Rospiglioso of the Popular Force party, who supports the amnesty, said in June that only a tiny fraction of the hundreds of cases brought against soldiers and police for abuses during the 1980 to 2000 armed conflict led to convictions. “Many of them (the accused) are no longer with us; others grew old in silence, subjected to never-ending prosecutions,” he said. A truth commission determined that the majority of the conflict’s victims were Indigenous Peruvians caught between security forces and the Shining Path rebel group. The commission calculated some 70,000 people were killed in the conflict.