PERU: OFFICIALS INVESTIGATING POSSIBLE HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS DATING BACK TWO DECADES BEGIN EXHUMING BODIES OF OVER A DOZEN INMATES KILLED ON PRISON ISLAND OF EL FRONTON
Record ID:
646517
PERU: OFFICIALS INVESTIGATING POSSIBLE HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS DATING BACK TWO DECADES BEGIN EXHUMING BODIES OF OVER A DOZEN INMATES KILLED ON PRISON ISLAND OF EL FRONTON
- Title: PERU: OFFICIALS INVESTIGATING POSSIBLE HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS DATING BACK TWO DECADES BEGIN EXHUMING BODIES OF OVER A DOZEN INMATES KILLED ON PRISON ISLAND OF EL FRONTON
- Date: 8th July 2003
- Summary: (U7) PUCUSANA, PERU (JULY 9, 2003) (REUTERS) WIDE OF PUCUSANA MUNICIPAL CEMETERY WHERE EXHUMATIONS ARE TAKING PLACE MV: INVESTIGATORS EXHUMING CADAVER SV: INVESTIGATORS LOOKING ON SV: INVESTIGATORS PUTTING CORPSE ON STRETCHER WIDE OF INVESTIGATORS DIGGING IN CEMETERY TOMB MV: INVESTIGATORS PLACE CORPSE INSIDE AMBULANCE SV: INVESTIGATORS PULLING OUT SAND FROM GRAVE VARIOUS OF RELATIVES CARRYING PICTURES OF THE DEAD DEMONSTRATING FROM A NEARBY HILL (4 SHOTS) SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) UNIDENTIFIED RELATIVE OF FORMER INMATE, SAYING: "What we're asking for is that they hand over the mortal remains of our loved ones so that we can give them a proper burial as family, number one. Second: exemplary sanction should be given to those responsible for this abominable crime, that falls on the head of Alan Garcia Perez." SV: INVESTIGATORS WORKING SV: INVESTIGATORS PLACING CORPSE IN BAG WIDE OF INVESTIGATORS DIGGING IN TOMB
- Embargoed: 23rd July 2003 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: PUCUSANA, LIMA AND EL FRONTON, PERU
- Country: Peru
- Topics: Domestic Politics
- Reuters ID: LVAAUIHYUA1EI056Z1T68L0TCITO
- Story Text: As Peruvian officials investigate possible human rights violations under the presidency of Alan Garcia, they have exhumed the bodies of over a dozen former inmates who were killed after a 1986 prison riot.
As Peruvian officials look into possible human rights violations that date back two decades, authorities began to exhume the bodies of over a dozen inmates on Wednesday (July 9) who were killed on the prison island of El Fronton.
El Fronton was one of three Peruvian prisons-- including Lurigancho and Callao-- in which simultaneous riots on June 19, 1986 ended in mass deaths. Relatives of the inmates claim as many as 300 died, who they say were killed by soldiers and sailors brought in to suppress the uprisings.
The prisoners, who were being held on terrorism charges, were members of the Shining Path, a guerrilla group which supports the Communist Party and has been implicated in thousands of kidnappings and murders throughout the country.
Peruvian policy was to isolate the prisoners, an environment which critics say may have facilitated the coordinated uprisings.
About 15 corpses were exhumed Wednesday from mass graves in the Pucusana Municipal Cemetery where several dozen more bodies are believed buried.
Most accounts concur that the Cabinet had authorized the armed forces to put down the 1986 revolt in short order.
Within 36 hours, the military had done just that; but survivors claimed that over 100 prisoners who had surrendered were shot in cold blood by the military.
Investigators have been led to the site by an unidentified former soldier, who says he took part in the burials and has now come forward. His accusations have been corroborated by another witness, a cemetery employee, who claims he saw four soldiers carry and bury heavy bags from a truck in the middle of the night. The witness says that when he tried to report the incident to government officials, he was advised to keep silent.
Critics claim the deaths were politically motivated and ordered by former President Alan Garcia to suppress the Shining Path. Garcia, who was in the first year of his presidency, denies ordering the executions.
"I am convinced that especially the relatives and society have the right and the obligation to know what really happened, if there were deeds committed which are against the law, (we need to) deal with them, and all I say is that when we intend to slant this information by saying that Alan Garcia went by on a yacht near the island of Fronton while there was combat-- when the journalists are the best witnesses that that day I stayed in the palace all day-- say those absurd things and I reject them," said former president Alan Garcia. "However, I think it's fundamental that everything that happened be known through and through."
Former charges against high-ranking military officers in connection with the 1986 events were not successful but, after international human rights organizations expressed outrage, the investigations were recently reopened. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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