Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance & Other Ill Treatment In the early years of the 21st Century, 2000 to
2025 gvnet.com/torture/Peru.htm
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CAUTION: The following links
have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in Peru. Some of these links may lead to websites
that present allegations that are unsubstantiated or even false. No
attempt has been made to validate their authenticity or to verify their content. HOW TO USE THIS WEBPAGE Students If you are looking
for material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on
this page and others to see which aspects of Torture by Authorities are of
particular interest to you. You might
be interested in exploring the moral justification for inflicting pain or
inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment in order to obtain critical
information that may save countless lives, or to elicit a confession for a
criminal act, or to punish someone to teach him a lesson outside of the
courtroom. Perhaps your paper might
focus on some of the methods of torture, like fear, extreme temperatures,
starvation, thirst, sleep deprivation, suffocation, or immersion in freezing
water. On the other hand, you might
choose to write about the people acting in an official capacity who
perpetrate such cruelty. There is a
lot to the subject of Torture by Authorities.
Scan other countries as well as this one. Draw comparisons between activity in
adjacent countries and/or regions.
Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper resources
that are available on-line. ***
ARCHIVES *** 2020 Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices: Peru U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, 30 March 2021 www.state.gov/reports/2020-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/peru/
[accessed 3 August
2021] TORTURE AND OTHER
CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT The law prohibits
such practices, but there were widespread reports the police employed them,
particularly against protesters during then president Merino’s November 10-15
presidency. National and international organizations, members of Congress,
the press, and citizens alleged that these acts included: injury of more than
200 persons, including three journalists; the mistreatment of detainees,
including degrading and sexually abusive practices; and the deployment of
covert police agents who used violence against peaceful demonstrators Local and
international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and the Office of the
Ombudsman reported that police used cruel and degrading treatment and stated
the government did not effectively prevent these abuses or punish those who
committed them. According to NGO representatives, many victims did not file
formal complaints about their alleged abusers, and those who did so
purportedly had difficulty obtaining judicial redress and adequate
compensation. PRISON AND DETENTION
CENTER CONDITIONS Physical
Conditions: As of August the National Penitentiary Institute (INPE) reported
the prison system had 89,760 prisoners in 69 facilities designed for a total
of 40,137 prisoners. Of inmates, 37 percent were in pretrial detention. The
population at the Lurigancho penitentiary, the
largest prison in the country, was 3.7 times its prescribed capacity. Assaults on inmates
by prison guards and fellow inmates occurred. An April riot at the
Castro-Castro prison resulted in the deaths of 11 inmates. Inmates had only
intermittent access to potable water. Bathing facilities were inadequate,
kitchen facilities were unhygienic, and prisoners often slept in hallways and
common areas due to the lack of cell space. ARREST PROCEDURES AND
TREATMENT OF DETAINEES Pretrial Detention:
Lengthy pretrial detention remained a problem. According to an April report
by INPE, 37 percent of prisoners were being held under pretrial detention.
The length of pretrial detention occasionally equaled but did not exceed the
maximum sentence of the alleged crime. Delays were due mainly to judicial
inefficiency, corruption, and staff shortages. In accordance with the law,
courts released prisoners held more than nine months (up to 36 months in
complex cases) whom the justice system had not tried and sentenced. The
courts factored pretrial detention into final sentences. Azul Rojas Marín: Peru found responsible for torture of LGBT person British Broadcasting
Corporation BBC, www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-52204222 [accessed 7 April 2020] The court was
established by the Organization of American States (OAS), and hears cases of
human rights abuses in Latin America. It can order governments to investigate
crimes and compensate victims. In the 12 March
ruling made public on Monday, it said Ms Rojas Marín's detention was "without a motive", based
on "discrimination", and therefore was "illegal and
arbitrary". "[Ms Rojas Marín] was forcibly
stripped naked, beaten on several occasions, tortured and raped… constituting
an act of torture against the victim," the court said in a statement.
"Consequently, the Court has declared Peru's international
responsibility for the violation of [her] rights." Peru:
Order to indict Fujimori is a milestone in search for justice for victims of
forced sterilization Amnesty
International AI, 28 April 2018 [accessed 12 January
2019] During the 1990s,
approximately 200,000 Peruvian women – mostly indigenous, low-income
campesinas and Quechua speakers – were sterilized in a family planning
programme. There is strong
evidence that medical personnel were pressured to reach sterilization quotas
and that, in most cases, the women did not give their free and informed
consent. Many did not receive adequate post-operative care, as a result of
which they suffered health problems and 18 of them died. The senior
prosecutor has ordered the indictment of Fujimori and three former health
ministers in the cases of five victims of serious injuries that resulted in
death, and 2,074 victims of serious injuries. Freedom House
Country Report 2018 Edition freedomhouse.org/country/peru/freedom-world/2018 [accessed 13 May
2020] F3. IS THERE PROTECTION FROM THE ILLEGITIMATE
USE OF PHYSICAL FORCE AND FREEDOM FROM WAR AND INSURGENCIES? The situation in
Peruvian jails is extremely poor. The average prison population is more than
200 percent of capacity; 40 percent of detainees are in pretrial detention. Torture
in Peru International
Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (irct) Developed in
collaboration with the Psychosocial Care Centre (CAPS), July 2014 www.irct.org/Admin/Public/DWSDownload.aspx?File=%2fFiles%2fFiler%2fpublications%2fCountry+factsheets%2fCF+Peru+-+PUBLIC+EDIT+pdf.pdf [accessed 23 June
2015] Torture in Peru was
systematic and occurred frequently in locations where the emergency services
were based during the country’s years of internal armed conflict (1980-2000).
Today torture continues and the fight against torture in the country suffers
from significant deficiencies in all areas: prevention; access to justice;
and rehabilitation. The inadequate definition of torture in national law,
which is not in line with United Nations Convention Against Torture (UNCAT),
leads to victims facing difficulties in accessing legal help. Compounding
this is a lack of independence of the prosecution and judiciary, leading to
impunity. Human
Rights Watch World Report 2015 - Events of 2014 Human Rights Watch,
29 January 2015 www.hrw.org/world-report/2015/...
or
www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/wr2015_web.pdf [accessed 18 March
2015] PERU TORTURE - Congress took a
significant step in 2014 to combat torture, which continues to be a chronic problem
in Peru. In June, it approved a bill mandating the human rights ombudsman to
implement the National Preventive Mechanism against Torture (NPM), in
fulfillment of Peru’s obligations under the Optional Protocol to the
Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment
(OPCAT), which it ratified in 2006. The bill requires the ombudsman, inter
alia, to visit and monitor conditions in prisons and detention centers
without prior announcement, make proactive and preventive recommendations,
and publish an annual report. Forensic Team
Tracks Disappeared Peruvians as Fujimori Returns to Face Justice Marga Lacabe,
AdvocacyNet, News Bulletin 122, Lima, Peru and Washington, DC, October 3,
2007 desaparecidos.org/notas/2007/10/forensic-team-tracks-disappear.html
accessed 24 February
2015] A Peruvian team of
forensic scientists is insisting that the Peruvian government hand-over authority
to civil society to locate and identify thousands of Peruvians who went
missing during two decades of internal conflict. EPAF has documented
more than 13,000 disappearances – almost 4,000 more than the estimate of the
2003 Peruvian Truth and Reconciliation Commission – and warned that the
number will continue to rise. Mr Baraybar said
that most of the missing had been kidnapped by the Peruvian security forces,
which used disappearances in their counter-insurgency operations and even
wrote the practice into manuals. The Truth and
Reconciliation Commission estimated in 2003 that more than 69,000 Peruvians
had died in the violence and at least 8,500 had disappeared. According to the
Commission, most of those missing were poor, Quechua-speaking Indians. Almost
half lived in the Department of Ayacucho. Conclusions and
recommendations of the Committee against Torture U.N. Convention
against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment -- Doc. CAT/C/PER/CO/4
(2006) www1.umn.edu/humanrts/cat/observations/peru2006.html [accessed 5 March
2013] Persistence of
complaints of torture and cruel treatment 12. The Committee takes
note of the decline in the number of complaints of police torture submitted
to the Office of the Ombudsman during the period 1999 to 2004. Nevertheless, the Committee is concerned
that complaints continue to be received against officials of the national
police, the Armed Forces and the prison system. It is also concerned that complaints of
torture and cruel treatment continue to be received in respect of recruits on
military service. Office of the
Ombudsman 13. The Committee
acknowledges the important role played by the Office of the Ombudsman in the
promotion and protection of human rights in Peru, and draws particular
attention to its role in the inspection of places of detention. The Committee expresses concern at the
frequency with which the authorities fail to comply with their obligation to
cooperate with the Office of the Ombudsman and at the State party’s failure
to implement its recommendations. Intimidation and
threats 20. The Committee
expresses concern over the allegations it has received of reprisals,
intimidation and threats against those who report acts of torture and
ill-treatment, and at the lack of effective mechanisms to protect witnesses
and victims. The Committee regrets
that human rights defenders who have cooperated with the Truth and
Reconciliation Commission have been subjected to threats. AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL From an old article -- URL not available Article was
published sometime prior to 2015 POLICE AND SECURITY
FORCES - Allegations
of arbitrary detentions, torture and other ill-treatment, and excessive use
of force by the security forces were reported during protests against
extractive projects. Search … AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL For more
articles:: Search Amnesty
International’s website www.amnesty.org/en/search/?q=peru+torture&ref=&year=&lang=en&adv=1&sort=relevance [accessed 10 January 2019] Scroll
Down ***
EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE *** Human Rights
Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61738.htm [accessed 10
February 2013] 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61738.htm [accessed 4 July
2019] TORTURE
AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT – Although the law
prohibits such practices, there continued to be reports of torture of
detainees, excessive use of force against protesters, and abuse of military
recruits. The authorities seldom held responsible those who allegedly
committed abuses. Torture
often occurred immediately following arrest, when families were prohibited
from visiting suspects held incommunicado, and when attorneys had limited
access (see
section 1.d.). In some cases
police and security forces threatened or harassed victims, their relatives,
and witnesses to keep them from filing charges of human rights violations.
According to COMISEDH, some victims were reluctant to pursue judicial
proceedings against their abusers, fearing that the abusers would be released
without being charged. COMISEDH reported 14 cases of aggravated torture by
security forces from January to September, compared with 22 cases in total
during 2004. Human rights observers noted that the torture cases normally
were not the result of orders from central authorities, but rather
represented brutal practices that originated during the campaign against
terrorism in the 1980s and 1990s. The January 2004
case of John Robert Osorio Morales, who was detained and beaten by police,
was transferred in July to the third supraprovincial
prosecutor of Lima for further investigation. In September the
National Penal Court, formerly the National Terrorism Court, accepted the
August 2004 case of Pablo Fabio Sanchez Conde, who was allegedly tortured by
police officers after being detained along with his brother, Miguel. COMISEDH
charged that the two also suffered threats from the same police officers
accused of abusing them. There were no
significant developments in the investigation of the following cases from
2003 involving prison guards: the beating of Wilber Escobedo; the alleged
torture of an inmate at Challapalca prison; and the
alleged torture of Miguel Angel Vela del Aguila. All
material used herein reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107
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ARTICLES. Cite this
webpage as: Patt, Prof. Martin, "Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance
& Other Ill Treatment in the early years of the 21st Century- Peru",
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