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Striking
for justice
(October 18, 2000)
At midnight on September 26, Peruvian journalists Antero Gargurevich
Oliva and Juan de Mata Jara Berrospi started an indefinite hunger
strike in Miguel Castro Castro prison, Lima. In a letter to the
writers' group International P.E.N., Gargurevich explained that
the two men had decided on their course of action "on account
of the lack of political will shown by the present government
to resolve our cases."
But as calls for the
ouster of Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori grow stronger, Gargurevich
may soon be able to press his case before a new government.
Allegedly supported
rebels
Gargurevich was sentenced
in 1994 to 12 years' imprisonment on charges of belonging to a
support group responsible for formulating ideology for the Shining
Path (Sendero Luminoso) movement. The verdict rested on documents
about the guerrilla movement found at his home. The journalist
and university professor has always claimed that the papers were
part of his studies on violence in Peru. He is said to be suffering
from rheumatoid arthritis.
Jara Berrospi was,
at the time of his arrest in 1993, director of El Informador
magazine. He was given a 20-year sentence for collaboration
with the Shining Path on the basis of some maps he possessed showing
the burial place of the victims of a massacre carried out by the
Peruvian army. Jara Berrospi asserts that he was using the maps
for a journalistic investigation.
Military injustice
Both men were tried
by so-called "faceless judges" (their faces were covered to protect
their identity from rebels), notorious for their propensity to
convict on the flimsiest of evidence.
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WHAT CAN YOU
DO?
Read
about journalist Lori Berenson, who was convicted of
terrorism in a Peruvian military court with hooded judges,
and learn what you can do to help her.
International
P.E.N. recommends that you should send appeals calling for
the release of Gargurevich and Berrospi and all those convicted
by "faceless judges" ("jueces sin rostro") pending reviews
of their cases; urging the authorities to release all prisoners
recommended for pardon by the Ad Hoc Commission; and expressing
the hope that such injustices might not occur again. Appeals
should be sent to:
Presidente
de la República
Señor Alberto Fujimori Fujimori
Palacio de Gobierno Plaza de Armas s/n — Lima
Peru.
Tel: +(51-1) 4266770
Fax: +(51-1) 427 6722 / 426 6535
Dr.
Alberto Bustamante Belaunde
Ministro de Justicia Scipión Llona 350, Miraflores,
Lima 18
Perú
Fax: +(51-1) 422-3577
webmaster@www.minjus.gob.pe
Dr.
Víctor Raúl Castillo Castillo
Presidente de la Corte Suprema
Palacio de Justicia, Paseo de la Republica s/n — Lima
Tel: +(51-1) 4284457
Fax: +(51-1) 428 0803
Letters
of solidarity for the two men can also be sent to Gargurevich's
wife:
Sra.
Emma González
Alarco Av. Oscar Benavides 5044 — "D" Dpto 504 Bellavista
Callao
Peru
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According to the Committee
to Free Lori Berenson, military courts with hooded judges, who
determined the guilt or innocence of persons accused of treason
or terrorism in Peru from 1992 to 1998, had a 97 percent conviction
rate. Judges were not required to have had any legal training.
Human rights groups have cited many other procedural irregularities
in these military trials.
The hooded judges were
part of Fujimori's crackdown on violence caused by the Shining
Path. At the peak of its popularity, the Shining Path was the
most formidable rebel group in Latin America. During the 1980s,
this left-wing group waged an armed struggle against the Peruvian
government.
After becoming president
in 1990, Fujimori assumed dictatorial powers, including the suspension
of the Peruvian Congress for several years, to eliminate the Shining
Path. For years, many Peruvians felt that his authoritarian methods
were justified to end the civil war.
Political turmoil
But Fujimori's grip
on power has been loosening lately. He won Peru's presidential
election in May, but only after opposition candidate Alejandro
Toledo pulled out, charging that fraud had tainted the first round
of elections. Last month, Fujimori said he would call for early
elections in which he would not run after a videotape showed intelligence
chief Vladimiro Montesinos allegedly bribing an opposition member
of Parliament to support the government. On October 13, talks
between Fujimori's government and the opposition over a program
for democratic reform collapsed. Last night, Toledo joined thousands
of protestors in Lima calling for Fujimori's immediate ouster.
Peruvians may see a
bloodless overthrow of their president similar to the recent demise
of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's rule. If that happens,
Gargurevich and Berrospi might hope for the same fate as jailed
Yugoslav journalist Miroslav Filipovic, freed a few days after
new President Vojislav Kostunica came to power.
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